


Jump

by kailyrnew



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Depression, F/M, Fluff, Insecurity, Love, Pain, deep thoughts, just a warning this story has no medical accuracy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-05-31 12:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6469405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kailyrnew/pseuds/kailyrnew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Mari, don't you dare--" Ayla warned.<br/>That was about when she jumped off the roof.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jump

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: This story has no medical accuracy. Everything that happens is just plot devices that further the plot. The author apologizes for not doing any medical research before writing; I'm sorry. >.

"Mari, don't you dare..." Alya warned her. She had recorded the entire akuma fight, including when the little girl accidentally fell off the roof in all of the excitement.

Ladybug had already swung off so Alya wasn't as interested as normally, but Chat Noir was here answering questions, and that would be good for her blog. She had just turned away when she saw the little girl get pushed off the roof by an avid reporter trying to get to Chat. Alya knew what her best friend was going to do, a millisecond before she did it. 

Marinette jumped off the roof. 

Flash Back to 5 minutes before:

Ladybug purified the akuma and celebrated a job well done with a fist bump with Chat Noir. He opened his mouth, probably to spout out a lame cat related pun, when the beeping from her miraculous interrupted him. 

"See you later, Kitty." She giggled as she saw him pouting while using her yo-yo to swing off. She landed behind a large building and de-transformed. She patted Tikki's head while muttering good job to the little kwami. Said Kwami, was exhausted and flew into Marinette's bag to take a nap. Meanwhile, Marinette made her way back to Alya, who had recorded the whole incident for her Ladyblog. Marinette knew that Alya wanted to ask Chat a few questions and probably would have stuck around, so she headed to the small roof top of the second story building that the akuma had been defeated on. 

When she had finally made it back to where Alya was standing, she had already been poked and jabbed by elbows trying to get closer to Chat. After muttering an excuse about getting trapped in the chaos of the akuma attack, the teen heroine noticed the little girl she had previously saved, getting jostled back by the adults. Alya had also directed her attention over to the scene. 

"If the don't be careful, they're going to knock her off. " Alya muttered to Marinette, while Marinette nodded. Alya tried to call out; 

"Hey, be carefu..." But Alya's warning came too late, as the little girl took a step backwards to avoid being trampled by the distracted reporters. A step off the roof. 

Alya felt her best friend move a split second later; panicking, Alya, loudly threatened Marinette who... was no longer there. 

Back to Present:

Chat Noir was distracted from the never-ending reporters when he heard screams. He tried to dodge the reporters, but when that didn't work he started to push ( lightly!) the reporters out of the way until he finally broke through; just in time to see Marinette jump off the roof. 

Chat sprinted to edge and looked down quickly before jumping off the roof himself. 

Marinette had somehow grabbed the little girl and flipped them both around so that Marinette's back was facing the ground. She saw Chat falling to meet her but when she glanced down at the ground, she saw it rising to meet them rapidly. Her eyes widened as she realized Chat wouldn't meet them in time. As she raised her eyes back to Chat, she saw his eyes widen in realization and then terror. He tried speeding up his descent by attempting swimming motions in the air. It would have been quite comical if not for the dire situation they were in. She glanced back at the ground, seeing it getting closer and closer. She wrapped her arms around the little girl tighter, no longer hearing the little girl's wails or the screams from above. She squeezed her eyes tight as her back collided with the street below.

BOOOOM! 

She heard the force of impact and the whimper the small body that she was holding let out as they landed. She heard her own strangled gasp as she heard her ribs ( and probably many other bones) crack. She heard sirens wailing and people screaming. 

However, she couldn't feel anything. All she knew was the the sky was very blue. So very blue. 

It wasn't until someone touched her that she felt the pain. She felt it resonate through her entire body and would have groaned if she hadn't had the wind knocked out of her. Of course the small body pressed against her chest didn't help either. Speaking of the small body in her arms, Marinette started to become worried when the little girl didn't move.

She finally had enough breath back to groan when someone tried to move her again. Instantly the hands removed themselves and she heard frantic yelling from above. The actual words, however, were lost to her ears as her attention was now directed to the small body beginning to wriggle around her bruised torso. She saw black, clawed hands pick up the child gently and she heard Chat hand her to a paramedic saying the she needed immediate medical attention. 

"Is....s.she okay?" Marinette managed to groan out. 

She saw Chat's face appear over hers, and suddenly her sight was filled with electric green, infused with shots of yellow and emerald, instead of the bright blue of the sky that she had just become accustomed too. Chat's eyes really are pretty, she mused. She was shaken out of her musings by Chat's voice. 

"She'll be fine. She's a little bruised and shaken up but she be fine after some rest. You, however, may need some work."

He kept muttering at her, jumping from the topic of her being stuck, to her being incredibly stupid and reckless in rapid succession. His panicked face appeared over her again when she made a slight whimper as he tried to get her out of her position. 

"You okay, Marinette?" He said in a seemingly gentle voice but Marinette knew her partner well enough to hear that he was worried and scared. She realized then that her wounds may actually be serious this time. She glanced back up to those beautiful green eyes and saw the fear and guilt there. She realized what she needed to do,even as blackness was threatening to overcome her vision. 

"Positively Purr-fect, kitty." She managed to breathe out before finally giving into the darkness that consumed her vision.


	2. The Girl Who Jumped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which Adrien is a confused little cinnamon roll and Plagg is not helpful

"Why would she jump off the roof?" Adrien asked as he was pacing in front of his very disgruntled kwami. 

"Who cares? You jump off roofs all the time. Now feed me." Plagg whined. Adrien shot him a glare, hoping to threaten his kwami into having an actual meaningful conversation that did not involve cheese. Adrien ignored his plea for cheese and went on.

"I care! Its my fault! And now Marinette's in the hospital with serious injuries!" Adrien groaned as he threw himself face down onto his bed. Plagg rolled his eyes, seriously he just had to choose the boy who was a huge drama queen.

"How is it your fault the girl jumped off the roof?" Plagg asked impatiently as he flew over to where Adrien was crumpled on the bed. 

"I should have seen the little girl, I should have been paying attention. Its my job to help protect the citizens' of Paris, right? Am I really allowed to call myself Paris' protector if a normal civilian had to hurt herself while doing my job? And it was Marinette, too." Adrien said muffled into his pillow.

"You were distracted by the reporters, besides what does it matter if it was a girl you know?" Plagg's voice grew distant as he flew into the drawer where Adrien hid extra cambert cheese. Adrien looked up and crinkled his nose at the scent of the stinky cheese before talking again.

"Exactly, Plagg, I was distracted. I was so distracted that I didn't notice a little girl fall off the roof, that's not just distracted, I was totally oblivious. But Marinette saw, and she saved the little girl, she jumped off a freakin' roof, and now she is seriously injured."

"You said that already, okay I get it, you feel bad Marinette got hurt but it was one mistake. You're just going to have to get over it, Adrien. " Plagg said with his mouth full as he sprayed half chewed cheese all over Adrien's desk.

"You act as if its so easy." He murmured.

"What's the big deal with this girl, Adrien? You've already sent her flowers as both Chat and Adrien, I think you're good." 

"Flowers don't fix broken bones, Plagg!" Adrien yelled.

"Then go see her! Do something! Stop being so pathetic! Geez, you would think you were the one hurt..." 

Adrien turned his head to glare at his kwami, and his kwami glared back. Suddenly, Plagg sighed. The kwami flew over from his previous position on the the desk and settled himself on Adrien's pillow. 

"Look, kid. Its true, maybe you should have been paying more attention but what happened happened. You can't change that, but you know, you did do the right thing as soon as you knew what was happening. You jumped off the roof too; you tried your best to save both girls and you helped them afterwards." 

Adrien made a hmmming sound. 

Plagg chuckled. 

"I guess I do know what the big deal is with this girl, though. You have equipment to jump off roofs, but that girl...I don't know if she is really stupid, reckless, or brave."

Brave. Incredibly brave. Adrien thought as he turned over and stared up at his roof, thinking of the girl who jumped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Hey, guys! So I know this part is really short (I'm sorry!) but I wanted to give you guys some insight to what Adrien was thinking! Tell me what you think!


	3. Green

"And you're sure you'll be alright up here, while I go down to the bakery?" Her mother asked as she helped her lay on her pink chaise longue. As much as Marinette loved her loft bed, it was really inconvenient during times like this. Marientte tried not to groan as her mom helped her get more comfortable, she didn't need to worry her mom anymore than she already had. 

"Of course, mom. Go ahead, you and Dad already had to close the bakery for a day to come to the hospital. Besides, the doctor said there wasn't much to be done, I just need rest." She tried to reassure her mom but she still looked unconvinced. 

"Well I guess if you're sure, sweetie." Even though Sabine said that, she was still hovering hesitantly by the door. 

"Mom, I'll text you if I need anything, okay?" Marinette said as she lifted her phone a bit, holding back a wince. 

"Okay..." Sabine finally leaving through the trapdoor. Marinette listened intently until she heard the front door close. She waited five more seconds before she closed her eyes and groaned loudly. 

"Are you okay, Marinette?" Her kwami asked worriedly as she flew out of her bag lying on the floor.

"Y-yeah..." Marinette said shakily. Her kwami came up to her and cuddled the cheek that didn't have a bruise on it. Marinette hmmed in appreciation. 

"Really, Tikki, I'm okay. I'm just in a little bit of pain." Marinette reassured her kwami with a pained smile.

Her kwami shook her head with a sad smile. 

"Well I expect so, you jumped off a two-story building and landed on concrete. "

"Mmm, true." Marinette murmured. Tikki opened her mouth to say something but then seemed to change her mind. Marinette didn't see Tikki's indecision, however, as her eyes were still closed. She was starting to get sleepy. She felt her kwami shift positions on her pillow beside her head and opened her eyes a bit. She saw Tikki looking at her desk. Her desk was covered with brightly colored flowers and get better cards. There was even a teddy bear from Nathanaël. 

"It was nice of you're classmates to send you get well stuff, Marinette." Her kwami smiled at her.

"Yeah, it was. Sorry, Tikki, but I think I'm going to sleep for a while." Marinette murmured softly as her eyes closed again. Tikki giggled. 

"Sure, Marinette." Tikki curled up next to her hero for a nap herself. 

 

Marinette woke with a jump. She looked around, noticing her room was dark now. She must have been sleeping for a while. She heard scratching noises coming from her roof, that must have been what woke her up. Maybe there's a cat up there, she mused as she let her eyes drift closed again. Suddenly her eyes widened as a thought came to her mind. There's no way...She thought. But her suspicions were confirmed when she heard knocking. That stupid cat, she thought in annoyance. She got up with a groan. 

"Marinette?" Tikki asked sleepily.

"Tikki, find somewhere to hide for a while." Marinette whispered as she made her way to the ladder that led to her bed and the balcony. She climbed up slowly, gritting her teeth against the pain. She wasn't supposed to be moving around too much yet, but here she was climbing a freaking ladder to let that stupid cat in. She was almost to the top when she heard knocking again. 

"Oh, give me a minute, kitty." She grumbled. 

She crawled onto her bed and moved to the middle to open the glass door above her bed that lead to the balcony. As she opened the door, low and behold green eyes stared at her through the darkness. They blinked once and she started to make out some other features as a voice came whispering out of the inky black;

"May I come in?"

She blew out her breath and muttering her permission, she sank backwards onto her bed, inwardly groaning as her bruised back hit the soft blanket. She watched as he climbed through the window landed lightly on her bed. She sucked in a breath as her bed was rocked a bit when he landed, pain shooting through her body. He looked at her worriedly.

"Are you alright, princess?" He asked, again with tones of worry in his voice. 

"Just peachy, kitty." Marinette muttered as she took in another shaky breath. Pain resonating through her body, she gritted her teeth trying to bring it under control. Apparently climbing up the ladder was too much still for her battered body. Vaguely she saw Chat looking around, he gently made his way to the edge of her bed; the shaking and bouncing doing nothing to help her condition. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain, if only a bit. 

"Oh. You have a loft bed. I didn't know...you didn't climb the ladder to let me in, did you?" He turned his head a bit to look at her as he asked his question. 

Silence. 

Taking her silence as an answer, he moved towards her again, muttering apologies. Marinette lifted her hand and set it lightly on his thigh. 

"Chat, could you stop moving, please?" She asked gently, her eyes opening to look at him. He looked stricken.

"Sorry." He said as he sat stock still. She giggled a little. Chat was sitting up like a cat, with his back and ears straight, sitting as still as possible. She would never admit it out loud but it was a little cute. A sudden burning in her ribs, made her regret her giggle. She whimpered a little as the burning spread. She saw Chat panicking and she sighed a bit. He was a superhero, you would think he would be better with dealing with things like this. 

"Chat, go ahead and make yourself comfortable." 

"But--" He started before she interrupted. 

"I'm already in pain right now, so you might as well. He hesitated a minute before shifting positions. He scooted closer and sat crossed legged, resting his chin in his hands looking at her with his tail swishing anxiously. She breathed shallowly until the burning became a dull ache. With the pain becoming manageable, she turned her attention to Chat. Her blue eyes met his green and they looked at each other for a few seconds. His green eyes had locked on hers and for a moment all she saw was green; for a moment she lost herself. So very green, it wasn't green infused with blue like grass and it wasn't a dark green like forest foliage. She didn't have words to describe the color. All she knew was green, shocking and electifying. A green she knew but she didn't. She blinked, rushing back to reality. She swallowed, not knowing what just happened. She broke the eye contact, heat rising to her cheeks and cleared her throat. 

"Urm, so, Chat, why are you here?" She asked flustered. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and saw surprise and a slight blush dusting his cheeks as well. Now it was his turn to be flustered but he managed to spit out a complete sentence.

"Um, I wanted to make sure you were okay." There was an awkward silence. 

"Well, I am." Marinette said. Chat sucked in a long breath before blowing it out, Marinette looked at him in surprise and was about to ask what that was for, when he suddenly spoke. 

"What's the damage?" He asked gently, almost as if he was afraid of the answer. She looked down, she did look pretty bad. Multiple body parts were bandaged, and there were cuts and scratches all over. She had bruises littering her body too, including a particularly nasty one on her left jaw and another on her left cheek bone. She glanced at him again before answering. 

"A couple of broken ribs, a lot of bruises and cuts, a sprained ankle and both wrists, a bruised spine, and some internal bruising. All and all, not too bad." She said as she lifted what she could to show him. 

"And you climbed a ladder and opened the door?" He asked incredulously while looking at her with disbelief. 

"Someone had to let you in." She tried to shrug but after pain shot through her body, she gave up. She got her point across anyways. She felt him tense and looked over to see his fist clenched and his head drooped. She immediately felt guilty, she didn't mean to make him feel bad. There was an awkward silence; Marinette trying to figure out something to say but was interrupted from her musings when he finally said something.

"I also wanted to apologize." He said softly, his eyes dropping to his crossed legs. Marientte's face scrunched in confusion. 

"Apologize for what?" She asked. He didn't answer for a minute and Marientte scrutinized him. His entire figure(including his ears) was dropping, or as much as it could in his sitting position. He looked so...broken, Marinette decided. She pursed her lips, she didn't like Chat like this. As she opened her mouth to speak, he interrupted her. 

"I'm sorry. I should have been more aware of the situation. I should have seen the little girl. I'm sorry that you had to be the one to jump off the roof, it should have been me. I'm really, really sorry you got hurt, its all my fault, so I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Marinette." 

Marinette sat still in stunned silence. She looked at him with wide eyes. She couldn't believe it, he thought it was his fault. Oh kitty...She thought. 

"Chat..." She started gently. His ears flickered, showing that he heard her but he wouldn't look at her. Pain struck her heart, and this time it wasn't from her injuries. She tried again. 

"Chat, look at me." She demanded. He drug his eyes up to meet hers, and she felt another stab in her heart as she saw the guilt that lied in them. 

"Chat, this isn't your fault." She continued gently, going on before he could interrupt. 

"Its not kitty, I promise you. I know you would have done the same thing, in fact you did." 

"Yeah, but I'm Chat Noir, its different." He said miserably. 

"Chat, I jumped off the roof. Me, I did it. I can't say how smart it was but I did it. I should really be thanking you, you jumped off after me and you helped me after I crashed. You helped me, Kitty. Don't apologize." She turned her head away, staring past her bed at a corner. She knew that what she had done had been incredibly stupid and she couldn't say that she wasn't embarrassed about it. She heard him suck in breath, she knew from multiple experiences that he was about to argue with her. 

"Chat it was not you fault. End of story, there is nothing left to talk about." She cut him off firmly, her head still turned away from him. She couldn't look at him now. She knew he didn't believe a word of what she said, she knew that he still thought it was his fault, she knew that he still had guilt laced in his eyes. She couldn't, she just couldn't look at him like that. 

Why was he always like this? It wasn't his fault, it never was. Even if it was his fault, it wouldn't have mattered to her but he never saw that...

"Mari..." Chat began. She turned back to look at him, her eyebrows raising at the nickname but deciding not to say anything. 

"Why did you jump?" He asked. 

There it was. The question everyone was asking. The question that she couldn't answer. She paused, trying to think of a way to explain it to Chat. 

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking, I just...I saw her fall and I felt myself moving. I didn't even really register myself jumping, all I know is that I was worried about the little girl. I just couldn't let her fall. Don't ask me what I was planning on doing after I caught her, because obviously I didn't have any plan." Marinette admitted. She felt her face heat up as she felt him studying her. She knew it didn't make any sense. It was just habit now, saving people. She didn't even recognize that she wasn't Ladybug. Marinette knew just how dangerous it was for her to not be able to differentiate between herself and Ladybug but that didn't change anything. Abruptly, she deflated; she felt so tired, too tired to be overthinking and too tired to deal with everything. Chat must have sensed this, blame it on feline senses or whatever.   
He blew out his breath. 

"Okay, Mari. Okay. I better go now and let you rest." Marinette braced herself as he started to move. Getting to his feet, he paused for a moment before swooping down and laying a light kiss on her forehead. His hand rested on the side of her head, smoothing down her hair and she was too exhausted to reject it. Marinette just closed her eyes and for once accepted the affectionate gesture from the silly cat. 

"Mari, next time leave the jumping to the professionals." He whispered as he pulled away from her forehead. 

You have no idea, she thought bitterly. 

She watched as he pulled himself up and through the glass door leading to the balcony. Just when he was about to swing the door shut, she called out. 

"Chat?" 

"Yes, princess?" He asked as he stuck his head back through the window. 

"Next time, let yourself in." 

His eyes widened and suddenly he grinned. 

"Purr thing, Princess" Quickly he pulled his head back out and shut the window. She watched as his silhouette disappeared into the night. 

Tikki came flying up to Marinette. 

"He must have been feeling really bad, that was his first pun all night." Tikki giggled as she came to snuggle with Marinette. Marinette's eyes widening as she realized it was true. 

"Yeah, I guess." She whispered. 

After a while Tikki was snoring lightly next to her pillow, and despite her exhaustion, Marinette was wide awake. Her mind whirling with thoughts about a certain black cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: So this chapter was way longer compared to the last one. Tell me what you guys think about this chapter, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I feel like the MariChat progression is really slow but I have plans for it to pick up in upcoming chapters. And guys I promise I'll be better with puns in the future chapters. I'll try to update as soon as possible.
> 
> Have a good whatever (day, night, afternoon, morning, whatever :) I don't discriminate) 
> 
> Cutesylittledemon


	4. Teardrops and Pain

When Marinette woke up the next morning, the pain was so bad that she actually cried out. The doctor had said that her body was still in shock and probably wouldn't feel the full extent of her pain for a couple of days so it made sense to for her to feel such pain, but it still shocked her. Tikki grumbled a bit in her sleep. Marinette bit her lip to keep from crying out again; her kwami, like her parents, had exhausted herself worrying over her, so Marinette didn't want to wake her. She closed her eyes trying to block out the pain. She was Ladybug, for goodness sakes, she shouldn't be crying over a little bit of pain. She swallowed hard and tried to not let the burning tears behind her eyes spill. After a few minutes of trying to get a hold of herself, she finally let go. Marinette sobbed, hard.  
She didn't care if her ribs seared with pain, she didn't care that if anyone found her they would worry, she didn't care if Tikki woke up, she didn't care. It hurt, her body hurt, she was broken and she was done with being strong. Yes, she was Ladybug and yes, she had gotten badly hurt before but it still hurt. Sometimes she wondered just how much her body could take. It wasn't like she didn't love being Ladybug; while she was Ladybug she was strong and confident and everything she wasn't as Marinette, but she was still human. When she was Ladybug it was easy to ignore the pain due to the adrenaline, it was always when she was Marinette that she ever really felt any pain. Of course, that was normal; she always felt the pain when she wasn't in the suit. Between her sobbing and the pain grating on her body, she didn't even hear the trapdoor above her bed open. 

"Mari?" A shocked and worried voice came from above her. She opened her eyes, which had been closed tightly against the pain and through her tears she was able to make out Chat. She turned her head to see if Tikki was still sleeping beside her head, but apparently her Kwami had heard the door and had hid herself. 

She didn't want Chat to see her like this; its true he didn't know she was Ladybug, but she still didn't want her partner to see her like this. She kept her head turned and bit her bottom lip, her body shaking as she tried to conceal her sobs. She didn't want him to see her in this state, not when she was this weak. But she couldn't stop the tears now that they had come. Everything had just seemed like too much. Marinette knew that this had been coming for a long time, she had hid everything with a fake smile for too long. This was bad. She didn't know how long this outburst would last and she couldn't stop and.... she was beginning not to care. 

She startled a bit when she felt a hand stroking her hair. She finally turned her head back to Chat but couldn't meet his eyes, instead focusing on his ridiculously poufy hair. She felt his eyes on her, begging her to look at him but she wouldn't. She shifted her focus again to stare past his head at her ceiling but she felt his piercing gaze still on her. She felt felt his hand coming up to her face, and hesitating before very gently wiping her tears away. Terribly gently. Finally she gathered up courage to look at his face. His face was neutral and when she looked up into his eyes, she only saw understanding. And suddenly she was so thankful for him; thankful that he didn't have pity or worry in his eyes, thankful that he wasn't asking questions, thankful that he was just offering her silent comfort, just thankful that he was here. 

She brought her hands up to her face, trying to hide her shame even if he had already seen it all. Lightly, he pried her hands away from her face. She half-heartedly tried to resist but gave up, partly because the struggling caused pain and partly because she just didn't care anymore. She felt Chat, hold her hands, softly running his thumbs over them. He slowly bent down and lightly kissed the top of her uninjured cheek. This only made her sob harder. He laid down next to her, obviously trying to not rock the bed too much. As soon as he was down, he gently pulled her into him and gently cuddled her. Goddammit, why was it that he was always so gentle when it came to times like this? Marinette thought. Very briefly, another gentle blonde-haired boy flashed through her mind. But she pushed that away, that caused pain too. 

With him silently holding her and just letting her cry, she eventually calmed down. She was sure she looked awful but Chat didn't say anything. Finally getting enough breath back she asked him, "Don't you need to be in school?" 

"Doesn't matter," He muttered into her hair as his arm that had been lightly clutching her to him suddenly tightened. She'll admit, if it hadn't been made her feel better, she would have complained about the pain it caused. Instead, she just turned her head and nuzzled it into his covered collar bone. He nuzzled her head in response and she realized just how strange and intimate, this probably was. 

"Tell me, kitty, do you normally crawl into crying girl's bedrooms and cuddle them?" She asked teasingly, trying to lighten the mood. 

"Only yours, Princess." He responded softly, muffled because of her hair. 

"You sure?"She asked, suddenly a little afraid of his answer. 

"Paw-sitive." She sighed softly, reassured. 

"Your cat puns are terrible" She muttered. She felt him chuckle. 

"I happen to think they are rather claw-ver." He declared. She groaned. 

"What Princess? Don't you think they are purr-iceless?" 

"Nooo!"She half groaned and half laughed.

"I'm sure I can purr-suade you to love them. After all, they are litter-ally purr-fect. Fur-tunately, for you, I have a special tail-ent in cat-related puns."

Marinette had to giggle. There was so many awful cat puns in such a short amount of time. Chat grinned and stroked her cheek. 

"There is that beautiful smile I adore." He breathed as she blushed. H-he adored? 

They didn't say anything for a while, just laying there in companionable silence. Marinette was grateful, for once someone wasn't asking her questions that she couldn't answer. She shifted a bit, trying to get more comfortable, and groaned in response to the pain. She felt Chat pull away a bit. 

"Do you need anything? Pain medicine?" He asked quietly, knowingly. 

"Please." She whispered. 

"Where are they?" He asked.

" Down, on my desk."

"You need water too, right?" 

" Yeah, there's a glass of water in the bathroom." She muttered. 

"Okay." He moved away from her, making his way off the bed. She watched him until his head disappeared down the ladder. She sighed a bit. What was she thinking? What was she doing? Chat returned a few minutes later, climbing the ladder with one hand. As he pulled himself up onto the landing, he pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket. He sat on her bed and she painstakingly pushed herself up into a sitting position. He handed her the glass of water and opened the bottle of pills, handing her one before closing the bottle back up and setting the bottle on the ground beside her bed. He looked back at her in time to see her gulp down the pills. Marinette handed him back the glass of water and he set that on the ground too. She sank back down on her pillow and Chat climbed back to lay beside her. He put his arm back into its position of resting across her stomach. Marinette closed her eyes, listening to the rhythm of his breathing. She refused to think of the complications this was going to cause, and she refused to think of her frantically beating heart; all she allowed herself to think about was the steady rhythm of his breathing. She knew she should push him away, she knew she should remember who she was and who he was, she knew she shouldn't be allowing this but she didn't have the strength or the energy to deny herself this small bit of comfort. So she just listened to his breathing, letting warmth and peace fill her. They stayed in this comfortable state until they heard Chat's miraculous beeping. He sighed and moved until he was crouched above her. He looked at her with eyes dark with emotions. She knew that he was just as confused as she was. She silently begged him not to ask about it. He looked at her for a few seconds before nodding. He bent down until he was millimeters away from her. He looked into her eyes again before saying;

"I'll be back tonight to check on you."

His words breathing across her face as he moved up to lay a soft kiss on her forehead. She nodded slightly. She swallowed and tried to calm her loudly beating heart. Honestly, that silly kitty shouldn't be having this effect on her. 

"Sorry, you've already missed first period." She muttered. 

"Don't worry, its okay. But I probably should go to some classes today." He chuckled. He was still crouched over her, which was not helping the condition of her heart. He pulled back a bit, and the look he gave her made her heart skip. He chuckled a bit before giving her a gentle smile and lightly stroking her cheek. Her breath caught in her throat. Seriously, what was wrong with her? This was just Chat...But then again, she normally would never let him do something so intimate...

Beep! She jumped as his Miraculous interrupted the tender moment. Chat sighed again before smiling at her faintly. 

"See ya later, Princess." He grinned as he quickly climbed out of the door. She saw the door close and she felt Tikki land lightly on her pillow. Marinette buried her head in her hands, her face red and burning. Tikki giggled. 

"What was that? " Tikki asked teasingly. 

Marinette groaned. "If I knew the answer I would tell you. What am I doing Tikki? What am I going to do? Why am I doing this? I'm so confused." 

And she was. She didn't know why he comforted her like that. Why did he keep coming to check on her? Why did he do all...of that? Why did she let him? Why didn't she push him away? Why did her heart beat so fast? Why did she like it so much? 

She groaned again and she heard Tikki giggle again. Tikki flew up and lightly touched Marinette's hands that were still covering her face.

"I've been meaning to ask you, but what do you plan on doing about your nightly patrols with Chat Noir?" Tikki asked. 

Marinette blew out her breath and took her hands away from her burning face to look at her kwami.

"Well, I was planning on continuing them, even in this state but I don't think its even possible, with the amount of pain I'm in." Marinette explained. 

"So I think I'm going to have to call him on his little baton thing and tell him that I'll be busy for the next couple of nights and that I'll have to cancel on our patrols. I'm sure he'll understand." Marinette sighed unhappily, she wasn't happy about this plan but she didn't really have any other choice. 

"But you'll have to transform in order to call him on his baton, are you sure your body is ready for that?" Tikki asked in concern. 

"No, I'm not sure if my body can really handle it but there's nothing else I can really do." 

Tikki was silent for a while, looking hard at Marinette. Marinette knew that her kwami didn't like this plan either but there really wasn't anything either of them could do about it. 

"Okay, I guess." Her kwami muttered. 

"Alright....Tikki, spots on!" 

 

After a few minutes of fumbling with her yoyo, she finally got it to call Chat. She knew her body couldn't hold the transformation for long so she tried to do this as quickly as possible. She heard it ring once, twice and thrice before she heard it go to voice mail. Can batons even go to voice mail? she wondered. She shook herself a bit and tried to focus. 

"Ummm, hi, Chat. This is Ladybug, umm, in case you didn't know. Anyways, I called to say that I'm really, really busy right now and I can't make it for nightly patrols for a while. I'm really sorry, I'll try to come back as soon as I can. Anyways if there is an akuma or an emergency, you can call me on this, I guess. Umm, so bye." She finished lamely. Oh god, that was so awkward. She forgot how terrible she was on voice mails. Phone calls as Ladybug were fine, but there was just something about voice mails that unnerved her. Normally, she was fine as Ladybug but it seems that not even the suit could work miracles.

"Tikki, spots off." Tikki, giggled as she released the transformation. You could put a red suit on Marinette, but even Ladybug couldn't stop Marinette from shining through. Tikki knew that Marinette hated how awkward she was, but Tikki found it adorable and endearing. 

"I'm going to go find some cookies." She said as she flew off and Marinette was left to deal with her battered body and her muddled thoughts about a certain black cat. 

Suddenly her brain drifted to the question that had been haunting her for the last couple of days. 

"Why did she jump?" 

After going to the question, Marinette couldn't stop the thoughts consuming her brain about the topic. And finally she consciously brought the thought that she would never say out loud to the front of her mind;

"Did she really jump to save the little girl?"


	5. Too Many Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Adrien gets a bit pensive. And is still as oblivious as ever.

Plagg, detransform!" Adrien muttered as he hid in a dark alley concealed from wandering eyes. He kept his eyes trained at his feet as he felt his kwami study him. 

"What was that ?" Plagg asked amused. He had had thousands of Chat Noir in his care before, but Chat Noir's and Ladybug's love square issues still amused him. Although he had to admit, this Ladybug was pretty stubborn on the whole identity thing and he knew if frustrated Adrien. Plagg, already knew her identity, but he couldn't tell him obviously, that would make it too easy. Plus, if he was being completely honest, he did respect Marinette's privacy decision. There was obviously a reason for her to keep her identity a secret. Over the many long years he had learned that there was always a reason. So he kept quiet. Although, he still thinks Tikki got off easy with Marinette; at least she didn't get the drama queen with an inferior complex and daddy issues. Oh course, Tikki has had to deal with pretty difficult Ladybugs' in the past just as he had to deal with Chat Noirs'. He just hoped that this time Ladybug and Chat Noir would have a happy ending. 

"I-I don't know," Adrien muttered, interrupting Plagg's musings, "Why do you think she was crying?" 

"That wasn't exactly what I was asking, but if I had to take a guess, I'd say she was probably in some pain." Plagg said quietly, serious for once. He continued on softly;

"Although, you know, I wouldn't say that all of that was just pain from falling off a roof and not taking her pain meds..."Adrien jerked as he looked up at his uncharacteristically serious kwami, Plagg held his gaze before breaking away slightly to tease the boy and lighten the mood. 

"I was going to ask about the whole cuddling thing? Or maybe you could explain why you stayed for nearly 45 minutes when you told me we were just going to drop in and check on her, that it would take five minutes tops? Or what about the whole "adorable smile that I love"? Or maybe you could explain the disgustingly sweet forehead kiss when you promised her that you would be back later?" Plagg's smug smile getting cockier with each new question that he asked. 

Adrien sputtered. 

"T-that is...that was... you have got to be kitten me...I wasn't...look, I'm just worried about Mari is all. I mean she fell, er, jumped off a roof. "

"Since when do you call Marinette "Mari "?" Plagg chuckled. 

"It's just a nickname!" He replied indignantly as he glared at Plagg. 

"More like a name of endearment." 

Adrien sputtered again while his disloyal Kwami laughed at his obvious discomfort. Calming down, Plagg asked the one question Adrien had been trying to push to the back of his mind;

"What about Ladybug?" 

There. 

There it was. 

His lovely, black-spotted, partner who had stolen his heart. His kind, caring, brave, selfless partner. His partner who saved Paris without a thought about her own safety or happiness. His partner that made mistakes, but always tried to correct them. The partner that was only human but at the same time was the best that she could be. The partner with eyes that seemed to convey the different hues of blue of the skies at the same time they seemed to convey the depths of the blues of the oceans. His beautiful partner.The partner that he loved. 

Adrien took a deep breath and told his Kwami the only thing he could; the truth. 

"I don't know, Plagg. I just really don't." He felt Plagg scrutinize him as he avoided Plagg's narrowed eyes by looking up. 

"Well, we better be getting you to school, you've already missed two periods. Besides if anyone saw you in this dark alley, talking to yourself, they'd probably would think you're crazy. You have cheese in your bag, right?" 

Plagg squealed with glee as Adrien answered his question with a hmm and a nod. He dived into Adrien's bag excitedly, leaving the befuddled boy alone with his thoughts. Unfortunately, the walk to school ended too abruptly for Adrien to truly organize his thoughts, and before he knew it he was standing at the door of his classroom. He sighed and took a breath before entering. He inattentively apologized to his teacher, giving her a dazzling smile before taking his seat. To his great relief, she didn't say anymore about his tardiness, instead turning back to teach her lesson. He muttered an excuse about a photo-shoot to Nino's questioning look and pretended to pay attention to the lesson. This was physics, and the material the teacher was introducing was stuff he could do in his sleep. Instead, he let his thoughts wander to questions his kwami posed earlier, questions that had been swirling around in his head since he had made his little visit. 

Why had Mari been crying, no, sobbing? He agreed with Plagg, the pain that was laced through her eyes wasn't just from her broken and bruised body. Thinking back onto it, he had never expected to find Mari bawling. He had seen a wide array of emotions from Marinette, mostly gleaned knowledge from observing from afar, but he had never seen her in such a raw or... vulnerable state of mind. He had never expected to find her so...hurt, so destroyed. Seeing her in such a desolate state, wrenched his heart out; And how could he not give it to her, when her tortured eyes begged for some salvation, salvation that her pride would never let her lips ask for? His actions had seemed right at the time. One look at her and his body moved before the logical side of his brain could react. And once he was beside her, once he was holding her, everything just seemed to fit together. She was so soft and warm and...right. The frantic beating of her heart, slowly calming down to meet his. Her choked breathing changing from shaking to calm. Heart beats and breathing one...their indefinite, transcendentally spaces within the universe, criss-crossing and weaving together to become one. Everything about her just seemed... right, Adrien didn't know how to properly explain it. 

And why had she been so embarrassed?He remembered how she wouldn't look at him, how she kept avoiding his gaze and hiding. Almost as if she was ashamed...ashamed to show any weakness, to show vulnerability, to showing a part of herself that she didn't dare show the world, to show that she wasn't' okay. Adrien drew in a sharp breath, and Nino, startled, put his hand on Adrien's shoulder in concern. Adrien gave Nino a small smile and a thumbs up to show that he was fine and they both turned back to the lecture. Adrien turned back to his thoughts. It shook him to realize that Marinette was living behind a mask just as he was. Perhaps everyone was. 

There was also the small detail that he had hugged her and comforted her and cuddled her and held her. And there was the other small detail that he had stroked her hands and her face and her hair. Oh and he had kissed her and connected with her on a highly personal and intimate level, a connection that he has never ever experienced before and it confused him greatly. But all just small details. Yup, just small details that totally didn't make him blush so hard that he had to pretend to grab something from his bag to cool down. Small, insignificant details.

And he still wanted to know why she had been crying. He was going to ask her as he was heading out but her eyes had still held so much torment and fear, silently begging him not to ask... so he hadn't. In fact the entire time, she had been silently begging for him to not ask her questions. He understood. So often had he avoided questions that he didn't want to answer or couldn't answer with a fake smile, begging anyone who could see through it to just continue on their way. The misery, the pain, the suffering. He understood it all; the silent screams for escape and the steady whispers for hope. He understood but he didn't like it. He didn't like to think about Marinette going through the same pain he puts himself through every day. He didn't like it. And goddammit, he didn't ever want to see her in such pain ever again. 

Suddenly, a girl in red and black crossed his mind, but he pushed that to the back of his mind, that caused confusion too. 

Adrien's thoughts ran around and around in his mind throughout the day; much too aware of the absence of the blue-eyed, pig-tailed cutie who normally occupied the seat behind him,who was now, instead, occupying his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: So this chapter didn't go as planned. 
> 
> Yeah. It just didn't. I guess that's what I get for trying to actually plan a plot for a chapter. Psht. I also wanted to thank everyone who reads this story. I've gotten such positive and encouraging feedback and I love all of you guys' comments! I read every one and fangirl and just oh my goodness. I really love you all, I never thought much about my writing until now. But thank you, thank you, thank you, for reading this little story, for liking it, for commenting on it, for voting on it, or even just acknowledging its existence. Thank you so much.
> 
> So have a good whatever (morning, night, evening, afternoon, whatever. I don't discriminate :) )
> 
> Love, 
> 
> Cutesylittledemon
> 
>  
> 
> P.S. I have noticed that the parallelism in my chapters is like so consistent its bad. I re-read my entire story and I'm like yup, parallelism. My running parallelisms might as well be a running gag by now, like this is ridiculous.


	6. The Aristocats Was All It Took

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which Marichat finally happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some Disney knowledge is suggested for this chapter, specifically the movie "The Aristocats."

Marinette expected a certain black cat to come scrambling through her window, but she didn't know what to expect from him. After he left that morning, the thoughts in her head had arranged and rearranged themselves, trying to make sense. But no matter how they placed together, nothing fit. Everything spinning and blurring; nothing made sense. She had finally exhausted herself into a deep, restless slumber and when she finally woke up, the clock blinked 8:32 p.m. Marinette groaned and flopped back into bed as the thoughts she was trying so hard to forget, were crashing and pounding in her head. So to say Marinette was a bit unprepared for Chat to climb into her bedroom that night was a bit of an understatement. 

She had heard the door open and heard her bed creaking as he landed on it and climbed off. She heard his footsteps lightly click against the stairs and she heard him approach her from behind. She tried not to flinch while she intently looked at her laptop screen. She didn't want to acknowledge that he was there; if she acknowledged his presence, then she would also have to acknowledge what happened this morning. And she was definitely not ready to do that. She felt him lean over her shoulder to look at the designs on her laptop screen. He was making it very hard to ignore his presence. She felt his breath on her ear and for a moment she forgot how to breath. Goddamn Cat, She thought.

"What are you doing?" He muttered into her ear. Urg, that shouldn't make her heart beat faster.

"I'm looking at Gabriel Agreste's new spring line." 

"Who's that blonde guy? He's modeling a lot of these, huh?" Chat said, something that she couldn't quite place in his voice.

"That's Adrien Agreste, he's a famous model and the face of Mr. Agreste's line." She tried to respond as nonchalantly as possible. Why did Chat have to bring up Adrien?

"You know, its rude to come up behind someone unannounced and breathe down their neck. " She muttered, trying to change the subject.

"I apaw-logize, Princess. Where are my manners?" He muttered again into her ear, his lips brushing across the skin and causing her to shiver. Her eyes widened as he quickly swung around the chaise lounge coming to sit beside her. Grinning, he took one of her hands and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles, his teasing eyes locked on hers the whole time.

"Good evening, Princess." He grinned wide enough to rival the Cheshire Cat, and Marinette flushed a deep red at the contact. She was glad that her room was dark, the only light was the muted sheen coming from her computer screen. She jerked her hand away, trying to fix her earlier error of letting Chat know he had an effect on her.

"What is this arrogant cat doing in my bedroom at this time of night?" She said as she raised her eyebrows at him. She hoped he didn't notice how she was still clutching the hand that he had kissed to her chest.

He grinned again, his eyes pointedly trailing to her hand as he said;

"Well, I believe I said this morning that I would come check on you. And even black cats keep their promises."

She rolled her eyes and he paused before continuing on.

"But is it paw-sible for me to ask for a favor?"

"I guess, what is it?" Marinette asked curiously.

"Could I ask you for some cheese?"

"Cheese?" She asked disbelieving.

"Um, Yes?" Chat said with a shrug of his shoulders. He looked away as she blinked at him, pink dusting his nose.

"Sure, I guess. I'll go get some; here, move for a minute." Marinette replied after a few minutes of disbelief. Chat moved off the edge of the lounge where he was perched on, and Marinette set her laptop to the side. She threw the blanket that was covering her legs off and swung them out before standing up. A very bad idea. It took less than half a second for the pain to flare throughout her body. She sank to the floor with a small "Oh.".

"Mari, are you okay?"Chat asked worriedly bending down to try and offer some assistance. His hands, went to her frame to try and help her back onto the lounge, but paused in midair as he saw that anywhere he touched would cause her pain. Between the bruises and the cuts...there was little left of her body that wasn't covered. His hands moved forward, only to stop again. He didn't know what to do, how to help her without hurting her. Of course, he thought miserably, this situation would have never happened if he had actually done his job.

Marinette apparently took pity on him because she gently took his hand and place it under her elbow.

"Here, Chat, please help me up. And don't worry, I'm fine." She tried unsuccessfully to reassure him.

"But, Mari, you're bruises...it'll hurt if I touch them." He said softly, barely touching the spot where she had put his hand. She flicked her hand, trying to wave his concern off.

"It'll be fine." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she saw Chat droop. Dropping his eyes to the floor, she barely heard him as he whispered.

"But it'll hurt."

Her eyes widened in surprise as she realized just how badly he didn't want to hurt her. She blew out her breath as she quickly considered her options. She obviously couldn't stay on the floor, especially since the awkward position she had fallen in was starting to cause discomfort, but Chat was so upset with the idea of hurting her. And its true, it probably would hurt a bit, him pressing on the bruises, but it wasn't pain intense enough for him to worry about. In fact, he shouldn't be worrying about her at all. She nodded a bit as she made her decision. Marinette then looked over to her dejected kitty, her heart going out to the crestfallen boy. She reach out and hooked her fingers under his chin, lifting his face upwards and forcing him to look at her. She cleared her throat and spoke before she could get lost in the storms that were his eyes.

"Then you'll just have to do it gently and quickly then, yeah?" She tried to convey from her eyes to his, that she would be fine, that he needn't blame himself, that it would be okay.

His eyes still locked on hers, he swallowed hard and nodded. Cautiously, he moved behind her and put his hands lightly under her elbows. After blowing out a breath, he hurriedly brought her up to her feet. Moving to the side, his grip on her right elbow tightened a fraction as he tried to gently lower her back onto the lounge.

Marinette made sure to not make any sounds of pain or discomfort. She felt bad enough that he was so conflicted and guilty about causing her any pain. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pain that was bursting through her body. She tried to take a deep breath to help relax but immediately regretted her decision when burning started in her ribs. Despite her resolve to not make any noise, a small whimper left her lips and Chat swooped down on her in worry.

"Oh my gosh, Mari, are you okay? Did I hurt you? I wasn't gentle enough, I'm sorry, I should have been more careful. I shouldn't have asked in the first place, I'm sorry. Are you alri--

"Chat, I'm fine." She cut him off mid ramble. "Now go get your cheese, Kitty. It'll be in the fridge downstairs. Just be quiet."

"Yeah, okay." Marinette flinched as she heard the guilt in his reply. She hadn't meant to sound so sharp, but she had still been trying to control the pain and her voice wasn't exactly in her control. It really was sweet how worried he was for her. She felt guilt flood through her body, intermixing with the pain that still lingered. As Chat turned away, Marinette reached out and grabbed his hand. He turned back with a jerk at the sudden contact.

"Chat, I'm sorry. That came out wrong, I didn't mean it like that." She kept her eyes trained to the floor as she brought his gloved hand up to her lips. Leaving a light kiss on his knuckles, she continued.

"It really is sweet how concerned you are for me, Chat. Thank you. But not every bit of pain I feel is your fault, some of it is just inevitable. So please don't feel so bad about it, its not your fault." She said as she squeezed his hand. She was trying to get him to believe it, but as his thumb stroked the back of her hand, she knew he didn't. Before he could respond, she laid another kiss on his hand and dropped it.

"Go get your cheese, kitty cat." She moved back into her position on the lounge slowly. Watching out of the corner of her eye, as Chat opened her trapdoor and silently slipped through. She proceeded to get comfortable until Chat finally climbed back into her bedroom. He walked over to her and stood a few paces away as he eyed her hesitantly. Marinette wasn't exactly sure how to react to this serious, considerate Chat. She could easily react to his cockiness or his teasings but this Chat...was a whole different world to her. The feelings blossoming in her chest were a different world as well, but she didn't want to think about that. Looking up at him, she felt her eyes meet his and suddenly, she couldn't look away. Just like the first time she fell and landed too hard, all she saw was green. A shocking green, pulsing with questions and begging for answers. She tried to convey that she couldn't give him what he wanted but his eyes never changed. She swallowed and looked away. Breaking the awkward silence;

"Chat, why don't you come over here and watch a movie with me?" His tail swished and his head was cocked to the side. She bit her lip, wondering if she had been too forward. He spoke, interrupting her doubts.

"Princess, I don't think we'll both fit." He stated simply.   
Oh, she thought. He was right, it would be squished if they both sat on it, but it wouldn't be impossible. Besides, she really didn't want to go through the pain of moving up to her bed.

"Oh sure we will. It'll be a little squished but that's okay. C'mon, Chat." Marinette patted the space next to her. Chat chuckled and shook his head as he tried to climb in next to her.

"We could just move to your bed, you know."

"Too much work, besides you're small, you'll fit." She said as she tried to move side-wards, trying to give him as much room as possible. She had, once again, forgotten the pain that it would cause and sucked in her breath. She felt Chat's hands, one on her middle back and the other on her thigh as he helped her move, easing the pain if only a bit.

"You know, try as I might, I just can't take you calling me small a compliment." He muttered as he wiggled his way in beside her. Finally in, they both felt awkwardly like sardines with their arms pinned to their sides. Okay, so maybe, they really didn't fit. She heard Chat laugh and she turned to glare at him.

"Here, Mari, hand me your laptop. Can you move onto you side a bit? Yeah, like that. And rest your head here...are you okay like this? Mmm, okay I'm going to put my arm around here. We good? See now we fit." After Chat maneuvered them, they were both finally comfortable. Chat laid on his back, with the computer in his lap and one arm around Marinette. Marinette was laying on her side, her head on his chest and her arm resting lazily on his ribs. She was glad that in this position, Chat couldn't see her blush. He giggled, okay, maybe he could see her blush.

"Can I start it now?" He asked.

"Sure." She said, trying to be as offhanded as possible.

But she couldn't help but smile as The Aristocats opening credits started to play and she felt Chat glare at her.

"Are you serious?"

She bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Tell me, mon chéri, was this intentional?" Mock hurt and betrayal, filling his voice.

Marinette couldn't hold it in any longer, laughter burbled out of her. She looked up at his face and saw the look of betrayal and she couldn't handle it anymore. She burst out laughing, ignoring the burn of pain it was causing. With each passing moment, her laughter grew as Chat tried, and failed, to look betrayed. He finally gave up and snorted into her hair. Soon both of them were laughing uncontrollably. Chat's arm had curled around Marinette, pushing her harder into his chest. He was trying to muffle his laughter into her hair, remembering that her parents were sleeping and she tried to do the same by pressing into his neck.

"M-m-aarri, heeee, twhaat tickles." He tried to get out, muffled by laughter and hair. She took in a shaky breath, trying to regain control but giggles still slipped out in between bouts of catching her breath. Her body was resonating with pain, but as she looked up at Chat's geniune smile, she knew it was worth it. They both eventually settled down, their chests rising and falling heavily, an aftereffect of their laughing fit.

"Shall we start the movie?" She suggested, noticing how his arm was still curled tightly around her. Likewise, her head was still snuggled into his neck. She shifted slightly so that she could see the movie but didn't change her position. And as Chat started the movie, his hand stayed put where it was resting on her hip.

It was about half an hour into the movie, before either of them said anything;

"You know, you always did remind me of Tomas O'Malley." Marinette said softly as mentioned Tomas O'Malley, was serenading Duchess. She felt the vibrations of Chat chuckling before he responded.

"Really? I always felt that I was more of a Duchess." She giggled at the thought.

"Nope, you're an alley cat through and through." She said as he snorted in disbelief.

"Me-ouch, Princess, that was harsh." He said as he pretended to wince. She just hmmed in response. They didn't say anything for the rest of the movie, but then again, Marinette wasn't really watching the rest as she was distracted by certain fingers gently tracing circles onto her hip.

When the movie finally ended, Chat shut her laptop and set it on the edge of the lounge, past their feet. After returning to his previous position, he didn't attempt to move and neither did Marinette. On the contrary, she placed her hand on his neck and brought him closer, lightly stroking the nape of his neck. He brought his hand up to rest on her elbow, his other still tracing circles. They stayed like this for a few minutes, peaceful. Marinette refused to think of what the consequences of this was, she refused to question what she was doing, she refused to do anything but listen to his breathing. In. Out. She listened to his heart beat, steady and strong. She clung to these two things as if they were her lifelines and for a while she knew nothing else. And she didn't want to.

Her newfound serenity was shattered as Chat spoke.

"Mari..."

She knew what he wanted. She could hear the questions thick on his tongue and she knew she needed to answer them, both his and hers. But right now, she didn't want to. She didn't want to know the answers, because she already knew them and what they entailed brought change. They frightened her and she didn't want to deal with them. She knew she was being selfish and bratty and she knew she couldn't keep running. She knew it wasn't fair, to him or to her. She knew all that but...she sighed.

"I know." She whispered into his neck. "But I don't want to." His hand moved from stroking her arm to her hair, his fingers lightly brushing over it. She closed her eyes, letting herself stay like this for a moment, letting all her worries and fears slip away for just a moment. Steeling herself, she pushed herself off Chat into a sitting position. It was time to face everything; reality, Chat, and herself.

Chat sat up too and his hand resumed its path in her hair.

"Mari, we need to talk." She nodded. But both of them remained silent, neither knowing how to start.

"Why were you crying?" Chat finally asked softly. Marinette swallowed. She wasn't sure how to answer. There had been so many reasons, most of which he couldn't know...it was just all so much. He was looking at her with those beautiful green eyes, patiently waiting. Taking his hand and giving it a light squeeze, she decided to tell him as well as she could.

"There were a lot of reasons, Chat. So many things...I guess I was just feeling frustrated and overwhelmed." She looked at him, trying to convey all the things that she didn't know how to tell him. He looked back carefully, calculating. She looked away, afraid of what she was going to see in those electrifying eyes. Since she was looking away, she didn't see him lean in. Her eyes widened in shock as she felt his lips press against the corner of her mouth. 

1...

2...

3...

Three seconds, that's how long it lasted. Three seconds, that's how long she didn't breathe. Three seconds, that's how long it took to completely destroy her world and somehow put it all back together simultaneously. Three seconds.

"Okay." He murmured as he pulled back. His hand still in her hair and the other one holding her hand.

"So what are we going to do about this?" He asked. Marinette sucked in a breath, he was still so close, less than 5 inches away. She looked up at him through her eye lashes, and it was his turn to suck in a breath.

"What do you mean this?" She asked softly.

"You know what." He said exasperated. He removed his hand from her hair to gesture between them. "This."

She looked at him slowly, hesitant, and his tail twitched as he waited impatiently for her answer. His eyes falling from her eyes to her lips as he watched them begin to open to form an answer.   
He hadn't been expected the words that had dropped from those pretty pink lips.

"Well, that depends on what this is. Tell me, Chat Noir, what is this?"

That was all it took for him to crash his lips onto hers.


	7. Fallen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very, very short chapter. I'm sorry.

So the kiss was awkward. 

....

Nothing else to say. After all, he had literally crashed his lips on hers in a burst of emotion.

As he held Marinette's face in his gloved hands, he crushed her lips and their teeth clacked together. Adrien pulled back quickly not quite knowing what he had just done. Marinette's wide eyes and surprised face mirrored his own and he froze. That was his first kiss, and it had probably been the worst one Marinette has ever received. It was awkward, and inexperienced and...He's pretty sure he might have bruised her lips. Urrrrgg. And to top it off, he did the worst thing he could possibly do in that situation; he looked into her eyes. He got lost in her goddamn, gorgeous eyes. He could try and blame it on the moment, the moment that he totally lost it, but let's face it, he had lost it a long time ago. But the funny thing is, even if he was completely lost in her eyes, he had never felt so at home. 

First all he knew was blue, very blue. So very blue. Then he saw streaks of blues he never knew existed. He saw the deep, dark, mysterious blue of the ocean. He saw the bright, proud, gaudy blue of a peacock. He saw the light, calming, serene blue of the morning sky. He saw the gray, shy, fond blue of rain. Every memory, every metaphor, every symbol he had ever characterized as blue. He saw himself curled up in a blanket with his Mom and Dad watching a movie. He saw his mom and him playing in the garden. He heard his Dad singing him and his mom a lullaby. He saw the first time he woke up and realized his mom was gone. He saw the time his Dad had picked a meeting over his birthday. He saw the first time he met Plagg. He saw Nino hugging him for the first time. He saw the time Alya, Nino and Mari and him had gone out for ice cream. He saw the time when he met Ladybug for the first time. He saw Mari jump off the roof. He saw her laying against him, just breathing. He saw her tear-soaked face as she showed him her most vulnerable side. He saw her kissing his hand. He saw her grinning up at him as that movie started to play. He saw her looking up at him through her eyelashes, as she asked him what this was. 

He saw her; 

He saw her deep, dark and mysterious like the ocean. He saw her bright and proud like a peacock. He saw her calm and serene like the morning sky. He saw her shy and fond like the rain. He saw so many things, getting lost in her eyes. He could no longer tell you what he was doing or where he was or even who he was, he only knew one thing; and that was, that he wanted to know more colors of blue. 

Adrien didn't register his body moving. He didn't register Marinette's stuttered questions or her burning face as he stared intensely into her eyes. He didn't register anything except what his heart was telling him to do. 

He kissed her again. 

It was nothing like their first kiss. It wasn't awkward due to too much force and lack of experience. It wasn't shocking and embarrassing. This time, he gently laid his lips on hers. Feeling the soft skin of her lips, feeling the light warmth radiating from them, tasting the vanilla from her chapstick, feeling the spark from her lips to his, just feeling. So this time when Adrien laid his hand on her cheek and kissed her, he tried to convey all that he was feeling. He tried to tell her everything, how beautiful she was, how much he liked her, how much he wanted to know more. More. He pressed on, as he kissed her harder. He needed her to know, how much more of her that he wanted. He wanted to know every speck of blue in her eyes. Every memory that constructed her soul. Every nook and crevice of her heart. Every freckle on her body. Every thought on her mind. Every heartbeat. Every breath. He wanted all of her and he needed her to know that. 

Adrien felt her gasp against his lips and was about to pull back, when her hand curled around the back of his neck, pulling him in closer. Her mouth moved hesitantly on his and he understood. She was trying to respond to his feelings, trying to tell him that she wanted to know about him, everything. He understood, and suddenly Adrien felt his emotions, bursting to the brink, for the girl sitting in front of him. He put a hand on her lower back, needing her closer, but was sent crashing to reality as Marinette whimpered. He reluctantly pulled back, remembering where he was and who he was and he remembered the girl, that he just kissed, was still seriously injured. He also remembered a girl in red and black, lovely against the natural backdrop of Paris. Oh no. This was a problem, a big problem. He still loved Ladybug, or so he thought but then...but that didn't matter. He as Chat Noir, kissed one of his classmates, which could compromise his identity, and could hurt a girl who had no idea what she was kissing. True a girl, a beautiful, amazing, kind, compassionate, brave, gorgeou--whoa, getting off track there, Agreste. He scolded himself. He looked up when he heard Marinette whimper again. His eyes widened as he realized that in his musings he hadn't' removed his hand from her back and now his claws were digging into the flesh on the back of her hip. He quickly snatched his hand away and pushed himself up, giving them both room to breathe. 

"S-s-sorry, Mar-Marinette! I didn't mean...I wasn't planning...I don't know what I...sorry." He managed to sputter out. He felt his face burning and he let his gaze drop. He glanced up through his eyelashes to peek at Marinette and saw that her face was flaming with a blush as well. His eyes dropped to her lips involuntarily. And Adrien was convinced once again that the universe hated him, because as soon as his gaze settled on her lips, his mind was seared with the memories. How soft her lips were, how her breath felt on his face, how easy it was to hold her, how he had wanted to kiss her more. Oh god, did he want to kiss her more. Again and again. With one touch of her hand, he was soaring. And with the touch of her lips, his whole body burned and fluttered. Emotions he had never felt, were forcing their way through, coursing their way from his heart outwards, pulsing and pushing. And he would never admit it outloud, but he loved it, how this felt. 

This. 

Adrien flashed back to when Marinette asked him what this was, as she looked up from her eyelashes. He jerked back to the present as his heart raced and his mind muddled as he looked over the blushing girl sitting before him. Her face was crimson by now, and he couldn't help but chuckle at her. She was so cute, he thought. 

This. 

This. The thought pulsed through his mind, and pumped from his heart. This. He knew exactly what this is. He shook his head and chuckled. 

"W-What?" Marinette stuttered out curiously. Adrien didn't answer, he just gave her a gentle smile and returned to petting her hair. 

It seems that Marinette is not the only one who had fallen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I know this chapter is short and I'm sorry! The next one will be longer, I promise! (or at least I hope). So some notes on the actual story; I used Adrien's name in this chapter cause it was from his point of view, but know that he is still transformed as Chat Noir. 
> 
> As always, I love you all. Have a good whatever! (Day, night, morning, evening, whatever. I don't discriminate :))
> 
> Love, 
> 
> Cutesylittledemon


	8. Let's Try

She had kissed him. She, Marinette, had kissed that damn alley cat, Chat.

Shit. 

And here he was petting her hair and smiling at her, like nothing ever happened. Like he didn't have a care in the world. Like she wasn't blushing so hard she may have a permanent pink tinge. Like he didn't just kiss her. 

And she had let him. She had let him twice.

Although, she wasn't really sure if the first one could be even called a kiss. It was sloppy and awkward, and was really just Chat crushing his lips on her. But the second...the second was a kiss, one with feeling behind it. It wasn't impulsive or careless. It was emotional and sweet and...loving. Chat poured his heart and soul into that kiss, trying to let his feelings reach her and they had. And she reciprocated the kiss. She reciprocated.

Oh god. What was she going to do?

She didn't have time to think about it because Chat laid his forehead lightly on hers, fingers still running through her hair, effectively distracting her. She looked up a bit, knowing that her conflicted feelings were practically pouring out her eyes.

He smirked.

He had the audacity to smirk. Her eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to spew out a threat about wiping that smirk right off his face when he distracted her with a tender kiss to her forehead, his hand pausing at the back of her head, bringing her closer.

"Mari?" Chat whispered.

"Yeah?"

"May I kiss you again?"

Well, at least he thought to ask this time, Marinette thought. She knew that she should say no, she knew she should shut this whole thing down. She should stop now, while she could. After all, her life was complicated enough, she really shouldn't add another complication, no matter how enjoyable that complication was. But that was the problem, she enjoyed Chat. And she didn't just enjoy kissing him, she enjoyed being around him, she enjoyed the feelings he caused, she enjoyed him. Should she really sacrifice this one bit of enjoyment, this one indulgence in her happiness, because it was the right thing. Was it really the right thing? Was sacrificing her happiness really contributing to the greater good, just because she was Ladybug? And she really, really wanted him to kiss her again. She wanted to kiss him back. She wanted him close...was it really that selfish of her?

Chat was still cradling her gently, patiently waiting for her answer. Marinette looked up to meet his eyes and saw his patience, his kindness, his...attraction. She bit her lip, already knowing that she made her decision, even though the logical side of her brain was screaming and arguing. Looking into his eyes, she nodded. Completely and totally, walking into this complication.

His lips pressed on hers seconds later. His hand still cradling her head, pulling her deeper into the kiss. His other hand ran up and down her arm, sending little shocks to her heart. Speaking of her heart, it felt like it was going to pound out of her chest. The softness of his mouth over-ridding her senses, his lips tasting sweet like sugar, his touch filling her with warmth, his lips moving against hers, softly and slowly, mesmerizing. But she wanted more, she wanted to taste, to feel, more. She shifted against him, bringing her body closer, she whimpered a bit as pain flared at the sudden movement. She didn't care, right now the pain was nothing compared to pleasure his mouth was providing. She felt Chat start to pull away, most likely worried about her but she needed him to keep kissing her. She needed him. She placed her hands in his hair, pulling him closer, sealing her lips on his. He responded to her rough behavior with surprise before lightly lifting her onto his lap. Her whimpers of pain were luckily lost in his mouth, as she learned of the new control that came with this new position. And for the first time that night, she kissed Chat. She initiated the kiss, she controlled it and at this point, all Chat could do was reciprocate(not that he was complaining.)

Marinette could not say how many times they pulled back for air, she could not say how many times they kissed, how many times his hands moved up and down her back to her waist, how many times his lips kissed hers, making her feel breathless and giddy, and if you asked, she could not in a million years tell you how she was going to deal with this.

This thought made her pull away. Chat looked disappointed but didn't protest, looking at her and waiting. Marinette took long shaky breaths, trying to calm down her ragged breathing and pounding heart. She was still sitting on her knees in between Chat's legs, his face cradled in her shaking hands. She leaned her forehead against his, their noses bumping together. Marinette closed her eyes and groaned softly.

"What's the matter, Mari?" He asked her as he rubbed his nose against hers in affection. "Are you in pain? Was I too rough?"

She groaned again, shaking her head against his, indirectly returning his Eskimo kiss. She took another deep breath.

"That's not it, Chat." Even though her body was starting to ache because to all the stress that she put on it and her ribs were burning with hatred, directed towards her activities. But that wasn't the issue. The issue was that she had just kissed her partner, she had kissed Chat, multiple times, which was going to lead to things getting messy, she knew. And there was the small problem of another blonde boy who had captured her affections. True, she had given up on Adrien, but that didn't mean that her feelings were gone. Her crush was still there, but she had given up on chasing him. But that still wasn't fair to Chat. He didn't deserve that.

"Chat, look. I have feelings for another guy."

She felt him pull away.

"Oh."

He looked so crushed but as he looked up at her, he looked accepting. That sent a jolt of pain through her heart. Marinette realized that the entire time, from the first time he crawled through her window until now, that Chat expected rejection, because that was all he had ever known. He was used to being rejected from Ladybug, and from what little knowledge she had gleaned from his home life, he was used to being rejected there as well. He was used to this. Oh god, she couldn't stand it.

"Chat, that's not all I wanted to say." She sat back on her heels, so that her eyes were level with his. She lightly touched his cheek as she continued.

"Its' true that I have feelings for this guy, but I've given up on ever being with him. It's never going to happen. And its not that I don't have feelings for you, Chat, because I do." Marinette paused a minute, did she really just admit that out loud? When just a little while ago, she couldn't even admit it to herself? Huh, okay.

"Chat, you deserve so much more than to be a rebound and I'm afraid that that's what I'm unconsciously making you. Oh kitty, you deserve so much more than me." She saw Chat's mouth fly open to begin protesting but she starting talking again before he could. "And besides, I thought you liked Ladybug?"

He stayed silent for a few minutes, looking at her pensively. She looked up at him waiting for his answer.

She, somehow, had settled into Chat's lap, with his arms and legs wrapped loosely around her. Suddenly he tightened his body around her, bringing her closer, and Marinette looked down in surprise. Chat's fingers found their way to underneath her chin, lifting her face up. He leaned in, making sure to hold her face in a position to where she could easily see his eyes. And she saw them, boy, did she see them. Dark with emotions, glimmering and sparkling with longing and desire. Hues of green twisting and shifting with hurt and confusion. Haunting and beautiful, the sight took her breath away. He leaned in close enough that she could feel his breath on her skin. He started talking, his voice heavy with emotion;

"It's also true, that I still have feelings for Ladybug just like you have feelings for this other boy, but like you, my feelings are not reciprocated and probably never will be. So right now, all I want is you. And I swear to you, that if this ends up going anywhere, that I will be entirely committed to you. I'm not going to suddenly run off if Ladybug changes her mind. I want to explore whatever we have. And I'm asking if you would like to, too." He finished softly as he pulled back. 

Marinette thought about it for a minute. Every logical part of her was screaming no, but her heart was fluttering, a steady whisper beating out; yes, yes, yes, say yes. Oh what the hell, she thought, if I wanted to stop this I should have done it the first night. But now I want to, I want to try whatever this is with him. It's too late to stop this, I've already fallen for him.

She looked up at him, and sliding her hands up from where they rested on his chest to wrap around his neck. She hauled her aching body up into a sitting position so that they were eye level.

"I'd like to try whatever this is. I want to try this with you."

Chat grinned happily at her.

"Seal the deal with a kiss?" He asked her cheekily. She silenced his ever-present smirk by pressing her lips against his. He sighed in contentment , settling back and tightening his arms around her back, pulling her closer.

Let's try.


	9. Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter where Adrien gets possesive

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien tried again. And again, his kwami pouted in the corner.

"No way, Adrien. This is the fourth time this week that you went to see her. I am not meant to be used for your playtime with your new girlfriend."

"C'mon, Plagg. How else am I supposed to see her?" He tried begging again.

"Oh, I don't know. Date her as your civilian self, like everyone else?" Plagg said as he turned his nose up.

"You know I can't do that." Adrien tried begging again. Why couldn't he have a reasonable kwami?

"And why not?"

"Because, Plagg!"

The kwami finally turned around from where he was sulking in the corner, flying up to his chosen and crossing his arms, gesturing that Adrien should continue his explanation.

"I can't date her as Adrien, Plagg, because she fell in love with Chat." He tried to explain as patiently as possible. " Besides, Marinette would never have feelings for me as Adrien."

"Oh, I don't know about that." Plagg muttered under his breath. He sighed as he flew over and landed on Adrien's head.

"Look, kid. I get it, you care about this girl, and this whole situation is really complicated. More so than you probably think, but you have to give me a break. We've gone to see her for four straight nights, you're lucky there hasn't been an akuma, you know. Text her, call her, do something, but give me a break. I'll let you go see her tonight, but tomorrow you guys will have to take a break. And I better be getting extra cheese for this."

Adrien grinned. His kwami could be stubborn, bratty and a pain in the ass but at this moment, Adrien could have kissed him. However, right now, he would much rather be kissing a certain blue eyed minx of his. Adrien opened his mouth, to repeat the transformation when he was interrupted.

"Hey, kid, are you sure, you two are dating?" Plagg said sleepily.

"Yeah." Adrien started slowly. Where was Plagg going with this?

"Well its just that, you've never actually asked her. I mean, all you guys do is cuddle and kiss and talk. You've never made your relationship, if you can call it that, official."

Plagg, had a point. They had never labeled whatever it is that they had. He had always considered that they were dating, but what if Marinette didn't? What if she just thought it was a fun little fling? Adrien needed to know. He went to his window, ready to transform when he was stopped by a sudden thought.

If she doesn't consider us a thing, does that mean that she could be dating someone else? She did say that she still had feelings for someone else, but she said that he didn't reciprocate. But if we're not official, she could date someone else if she wanted to, right? Does that mean that she is not mine? 

Adrien practically growled at that last thought.

Mine. I need to make her mine. 

Of course Adrien knew that Marinette belonged to no one, but it was the idea that her heart didn't belong to only him that set fire coursing through his blood. He needed to know, to make her understand that he needed only her. He needed her to tell him, that she needed only him too. He needed her.

"Plagg, claws out."

 

*Knock, Knock*

Adrien knocked softly to let Marinette know that he was there. She had told him just to let himself in, but he felt like it was rude to just barge in. He opened the trapdoor slowly, wincing at the creaking sound it made. He was fully aware that her parents were in the house, and he definitely did not want them to come in and see him kissing their daughter. For some reason, he just didn't think that would go well. He lowered himself onto Marinette's empty bed and quietly snuck down her ladder.

Marinette was sitting at her desk with a lamp on and books and papers littering the top of it. Adrien frowned a bit. She wasn't supposed to be sitting against anything hard for long periods of times, especially without her back brace( which she refused to wear). He knew that being out of school for a week, put her really behind and she needed to get the work, that Alya dropped off, done...but he could tell that sitting on that chair hurt her. The way her bottom lip was pinched between her teeth, the way she kept shifting slightly, the way her eyebrows drew inward just a tiny bit; she was in pain. 

The light provided by the lamp had thrown shadows and highlights all across the room. Even in so much pain, Marinette looked lovely with the lights and darks, creating contrast on her face and down onto her exposed skin. Adrien's view snapped to her shoulders, bare in her tank top, shoulders that were normally covered whenever he usually saw Marinette. His wandering eyes, made their way back up to her face. A face that he was slowly falling in love with. He loved how her eyes narrowed slightly as she was working, how her tongue started to peak out when she was concentrating, how her expressions changed ever so slightly.

He moved quietly, as to not startle her. 

Marinette continued working, he knew that she was aware of his presence, and Adrien was more than a little miffed that she was ignoring him. He wrapped his arms around her, forcing her to acknowledge him.

"Hey, Chat." She responded without looking up from whatever she was working up.

He nearly growled. Adrien then decided that she needed a little reminder of who she was dealing with. He lightly brushed her hair to the side, something he had done many times. Marinette continued to work and continued to ignore him. So he decided to push her limits a bit. He leaned in and nuzzled her neck and saw her start to take a bit of notice of him. But he wanted more from her. He pressed a light kiss to her neck and felt her entire body straighten as if it was shocked. He saw her pencil drop as opened his mouth and slowly drew the skin of her neck into his mouth. He heard her gasp a bit and he sucked harder. Eliciting another gasp and a slight shudder, and he released her neck with a slight pop. He leaned back and grinned in satisfaction as he saw Marinette's eyes half lidded and her chest falling up and down. He nuzzled his face into her neck again, as she caught her breath.

She pushed his arms, that were still wrapped around her, off and swiveled her chair around to look at him.

He couldn't help but grin again when he saw her face, a beautiful scarlet and her mouth trying to stutter out coherent words.

"W-what th-the hell w-was that?" She finally managed.

Adrien felt his grin turn absolutely demonic. 

"That's what you get for ignoring me."

He didn't allow her to process what he said before he pressed his mouth onto hers again. Cupping her face gently, he angled his head so that he could kiss her deeper. Her hands had tangled in his hair and her legs wrapped around his thighs, trying to bring him closer. She was having a bit of difficulty, seeing as she was still sitting in her chair and he was kneeling in between her legs on his knees. Adrien broke the kiss, and gently pulled her to her feet. He had to be careful, after all, she was healing but he knew that many spots were still tender and sore. He lightly guided her to the chaise lounge and sat her down. Adrien kissed her again, tenderly this time before pushing her back by her shoulders. She let him lay her down and as he moved over her, she stared up at him. Adrien paused a moment to admire her eyes, there was longing and anticipation in those beautiful, robin blue orbs. He saw her want, her need, for him. That sent a shudder down his covered body and before he could stop himself, he pushed his mouth on hers with an intensity that he never had before. He heard her breathing spike at the new pace, her body shifting to accommodate his weight.

Adrien couldn't take it anymore, her mouth moving against his, her body fidgeting and heaving, her soft moans lost in his mouth. He pinned her wrists, making sure his grip was still light, and opened his mouth, his tongue darting out to sweep over her bottom lip. He heard her muffled gasp, and needed more. He lightly pulled her bottom lip into his mouth, soothing it with his tongue before scraping at it with his teeth, before finally sucking and letting her lip go with a slight pop. He pulled away a bit, and drew in a sharp breath between his teeth when he saw the effect that his kiss caused. Marinette was still laying with her wrists up by her ears, her chest heaving up and down, her ribs shuddering at every motion. Her pupils were blown wide with surprise and longing, and her lips, oh god her lips, were wet with saliva, red and plump from being so thoroughly kissed.

Mine, his mind whispered. Please say you're mine.

His hands went to her waist, slowly, tightening the grip on them, watching her face to make sure he wasn't causing her any pain. When he was finally satisfied that he wasn't, he leaned in and kissed her again. Her hands, now unpinned, came up to cradle his face. Adrien started with a gentle pace, trying to ease her back into the intensity that they had previously encountered. When he finally got her back to where he wanted her, he decided to test the limits again. He pressed against her lips harder, his hands falling to her hips, bringing her closer. Marinette easily reciprocated and moved to wherever he directed. He felt the incredibly burning sensation of her lips, and paused to appreciate it, the sweet taste of her on his lips, before allowing his tongue to dart onto her mouth. He pressed it onto the entrance, begging her to allow him access. And after a moment, she hesitantly opened her mouth. That was the only invitation that he needed. He shifted his position, moving upwards for a better angle. One of his hand came up to her neck, lightly caressing the skin of her jaw. His other hand remained at her waist, but stroked up and down, all the way down to her hip. Yes, he wanted her, and yes, he wanted to kiss her as rough as he could, but he had to remember she would break. He needed to show her that he could be gentle, that he wasn't there to hurt her. He wanted to push their boundaries, but he didn't want to break them.

His tongue had made its way into her mouth, softly exploring and stroking. Her hands scrapped at his scalp, as their tongues met. Mine, he tried to tattoo onto her tongue as his tongue moved against hers. Adrien broke away, kissing down her chin and laying kisses on her jawline. His heart jumped and rocked as her heard a soft moan escape her lips. His arms came to wrap around the small of her back, as his mouth finally found what it was looking for: the hollow right under her jawline. He lightly kissed it, before taking the skin in his mouth. He moved his tongue against her pulse, feeling it twitch and speed up. He changed to sucking on her smooth skin and was rewarded with a hitch in her breath and a closed mouth moan. He sucked harder, letting his nose nuzzle against her jaw, trying to portray as much of his affection as he could. After what seemed like a blissful eternity, he finally let go. Adrien saw the red bruising's that were the start of a surely terrible mark. He gently kissed it, and looked up at Marinette with affection. The right decision, because Marinette was a sight to behold.

Her cheeks painted a rosen pink, and her lip was being chewed between her brilliantly white teeth. Eyes half lidded, and laced with lust and desire. Adrien felt his pulse jump and tried to swallow ,the surprisingly large, lump that had lodged itself in his throat. His heart racing, only speeding up, as Marinette tangled her fingers in his hair and dragged him back up, before crushing her lips on his. He responded just as eagerly, his grip on her lower back tightening, trying to deepen the kiss. His world began to spin, when Marinette sucked his bottom lip into her mouth. Running her tongue along it, chewing lightly on it. He didn't care if this was heaven or hell, all he knew was that he didn't want to leave. His high came crashing down when, suddenly, Marinette bit down hard on his lip and whimpered. As he released her mouth, he looked down and realized that his grip had shifted to her ribs, her broken ribs, and his grip was tight.

"Sorry, baby" He whispered as he released his grip. She closed her eyes and breathed a bit, before responding.

"It's okay, don't worry." Her hands came to lightly rest on the side of his face, her fingers stroking his cheek as she smiled at him.

"We should do this more often." She whispered with a happy grin.

"We should."

A comfortable silence settled between them; Marinette still stroking his cheek, and him, looking down on quite possibly the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Adrien broke the silence by moving off of her, and shifting to lay next to her. He let his hand come up to lightly stroke her neck, his fingers pausing before dancing over the mark he made.

"Hey, Mari, you're mine right?" He asked as he dug his face into her neck, afraid of her reply.

"What do you mean, Chat?" His heart sank as he heard her question. Of course, she didn't really want to be serious with him. Why would she? He was just a stray cat, who she played with on rainy days.

"Nothing." He answered her miserably, his face still buried in her neck.

Marinette was quiet for a moment, before letting her hand come up and touch the mark he made. Chat shifted a bit, so he could see it. Her touching his mark caused a fire to spark in his core, and he couldn't tear his eyes away.

"Chat, I thought you knew that my heart belonged to you."

Belonged to you. The thought pulsed through his brain and coursed its way down to his heart where it pumped through his entire body. But he could never have been prepared for what came out of her mouth next.

"Chat, I am yours. And only yours."

Yours. Yours.

His body went numb, his entire body stilling at that one little word. His insides, however, were exploding. His heart soared, and with it, his mind and his soul. Happiness, exploding like fireworks all across his body. Adrien pulled himself up, tipping her chin to allow him better access to her mouth, he kissed her. He kissed her, trying to convey all of his emotions that he could never hope to vocalize. And an emotion, he was much too scared to vocalize. The kiss pulsed with;

I love you. I love you. I love you.

Marinette was too shocked to even reciprocate, but after a few moments, she tried to respond and kiss him back. Adrien pulled back, only to pepper her face with small, soft kisses. Marinette giggled.

Gosh, I love that sound, he thought.

After a final kiss on her nose, he pulled back completely. He looked at her lovingly.

"Marinette, are we dating?" He asked while looking into her eyes. He saw her eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"Well, I thought so."

Adrien grinned, happy enough to shout. He leaned back in, rubbing his nose against hers.

"Then can we make it official?"

"Sure." She muttered as her hands traced the lines of his back. He hmmed in appreciation before continuing;

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you go out with me, as my girlfriend?"

Marinette giggled and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Chat Noir, I will be your girlfriend."

She chuckled as she watched his entire face light up. Adrien knew he was positively pouring happiness out of every pore in his skin. But at the moment he didn't care. Marinette was his, and they were dating, and he really thought he loved her. Not that he would ever say that last thought out loud. At least not yet.

"You okay there, kitty?" Marinette asked him, still giggling.

"Pawsitively perfect, Princess." Adrien sighed contentedly as he settled back into laying on her shoulder.

I want to stay like this forever, he thought.

If only it could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a good whatever (morning, night, evening, afternoon, whatever I don't discriminate :)) 
> 
> Love,
> 
> Cutesylittledemon


	10. She Didn't Look

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The frustration is real

Ugh, Marinette thought. 

She was standing in front of her mirror in only her panties and her bra, her hair wet from just getting out of the shower. She was twisting this way and that, trying to look at her mess of a body. And oh, it was a mess. 

The entire back of her was covered in bruises; black, blue, purple, yellow and green. All the way from the back of her neck, down to the heels of her feet. Cuts and scrapes also littered the wasteland, that you could call her body. Her back was probably the worst, bruises of all colors swirled across her skin in dark blotches. Gashes and abrasions, starting to scab in crusty red and brown globs.

Ugh, I look disgusting, she thought. 

As Marinette turned her body to the front, it looked a little better. Lighter bruises curled their way up her ribs and down the sides of her waist going onwards to her legs. Bruises, cuts and scrapes continued upwards from her ribs to her arms and her shoulders before barely brushing the side of her neck. The two bruises directly on the front of her neck weren't, however, from the accident...those were Chat's marks. She allowed her fingers to trace over them before flushing a dark red. 

I can't believe he actually did this. She mused. But then again, its not like I didn't enjoy it. She blushed again as she started the painful process of pulling up her pants. She heard her phone beep as she was struggling to put her back brace on. Not only was that thing hard to get on, put it pressed on her still sore bruises. And the damn thing looked awful under her clothes. She knew that the brace was supposed to help make sure her spine stayed in its correct place but it was still a pain in the ass. And she knew that if she came downstairs without it on, her mom would throw a fit. Marinette knew that her mom was just worried and she wasn't really upset at her per say, but it was still a pain. Actually, everything was a pain. She scowled at the brace in the mirror as she picked up her phone. 

Hey, Princess. 

Marinette smiled. The one thing that didn't upset her; Chat. 

What's up, Kitty? She typed before quickly pulling her shirt over her head. At this rate, she was going to be late to school. Chat and her had agreed to text, to give his kwami a break. Apparently his kwami wasn't exactly happy that Chat was abusing his suit to come see her. 

Marinette sighed as she dotted concealer over her Chat's love marks. She understood his Kwami's position, but not seeing her boyfriend was not exactly fun. She started on her hair as her phone buzzed again and she picked it up, only one pigtail done. 

You're going back to school today, right? Don't forget to wear your brace :) 

That goddamn cat. He knew how much she hated that thing. She typed out her snarky reply as she heard her mother call out. 

"Marinette! Hurry up, you're going to be late!"

Her eyes widened as she quickly finished her hair and hurried out of the bathroom. She grabbed her bag and rushed downstairs, ignoring the flaring of pain that seemed determined to slow her down. As she quickly shut her front door and headed off to school. Mentally preparing herself for all of the questions and the pain sure to follow throughout the day.

Marinette had no idea, that no matter what preparing she did, she could never be ready for this day. 

 

Somehow, almost miraculously, Marinette managed to get to school three minutes early. She made her way to Alya's and hers usual table and sat down her stuff lightly. Trying to sit down in her chair as gently as possible, to avoid any pain. She managed to accomplish the task with a meager amount of pain and in absolute silence. Marinette was so used to muffling her pain that by now she was a master. She turned a bit to see Alya ranting and raving to Nino and Adrien, and Marinette knew from experience not to interrupt. 

"...I'm just saying, Nino, its been a week and a half since anyone has seen Ladybug or Chat Noir!"

"Well there hasn't been any akuma attacks, so its normal not to see them, right?" Nino replied, hesitant. He was also well aware of how passionate Alya could be when it came to the subject of Paris' two superheros. 

"But usually they patrol! But they haven't been out at all! I was so hoping to track them down and get an interview!" Alya wailed. 

"They might be busy, Alya. After all, they have civilian lives to lead too." Adrien put in gently. 

Marinette cocked her head, an amused smile making its way onto her face. Poor Adrien, she thought. There was no way that logic was going to work on Alya. 

"They should still be patrolling." Alya responded stubbornly. She pouted before dropping her head into her arms with a groan.

"C'mon Alya, its not that ba--" 

"Okay, class, get out your reading from last night." Nino's comforting was cut off by Mrs. Bustier. 

"Oh, and Marinette, its good to have you back." Mrs. Bustier said before turning her back to the class to write notes on the board. Alya's, Nino's, and Adrien's head snapped to where she was sitting silently. She gave a small smile to them before bending over slowly to get out her materials for class. If she hadn't been concentrating on not whimpering she would have saw bright green eyes focus on her. And if she had looked into those green eyes, she would have seen much more than worry for a friend. 

Too bad she didn't look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Sorry, guys, I know this chapter is really short but I need the next part in Adrien's/Chat's point of view.
> 
> Anyways, have a good whatever (night, day, morning, evening, whatever. I don't discriminate ;) )
> 
> Love, 
> 
> Cutesylittledemon


	11. The Unexpected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Hey, guys, I know I normally do these at the end, but I wanted to give you a link that you'll need for this chapter; http://allwrestling.com/terms.aspx . You guys trust me right? Well you shouldn't. >:)

Adrien couldn't believe that he didn't see Marinette come in and sit down. True, Alya, was making quite a bit of noise but she wasn't that distracting. And shouldn't Marinette have made some noise as she came in? It was like she had just appeared, almost like a ghost. Adrien frowned as he saw the pain written across her features as she bent down to get her books. It was subtle, but it was there. He could see that the pain was starting to bother her already. 

At least she's wearing her brace. He mused. He chuckled a bit inwardly. She absolutely despised that thing, as it was evident by the string of curses that she let loose whenever it was mentioned. The couple times he had suggested that she wear it while moving around her house, she had given him a glare that could have easily made him shrivel up and die. Damn, she was strong-willed. But her stubbornness was one of the things he loved about her. Actually, what didn't he love about her? His attention was brought back to the board as the teacher loudly announced that the next topic would be on the test. While copying down notes, his thoughts swirled around the girl sitting behind him. 

He couldn't even talk to her until lunch. And then they talked very, very little. Marinette had been swarmed by worried classmates since the beginning of lunch, with Alya gripping her arm with a death grip. Adrien could see Marinette was trying not to grimace at Alya's tight grip on her bruised arm, but every now and again, her mask slipped a bit. Adrien wondered if anyone else could see it. Marinette answered all of their questions, no matter how many times she got the same question, with a fake smile. 

Adrien watched it all from a few feet away. 

"Dude, what's your issue?" Nino clapped a hand on his shoulder, interrupting his thoughts.

"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked, as he turned his head to look at his best friend. 

"Well, you have this sour look on your face. And you're standing over here with your arms crossed, acting all sulky." Nino raised his eyebrows, hoping to get a straight answer out of him. 

Adrien sighed and looked back over to where Marinette was surrounded by classmates. 

"I'm just a little concerned is all, Nino. I mean, Marinette still isn't fully recovered, what if this is too much?" Adrien tried to make it sound as if he was just a worried friend, but he couldn't help the sharpness of those last two words as he saw Nathanel take Marinette's hand and squeeze it. His eyes narrowed as he saw Nathanel's hand linger. He saw Marinette frowning a bit as she moved her hand away quickly. Adrien relaxed, but only slightly. Suddenly, feeling a gaze on him, he turned back to Nino, who he had forgotten. Said forgotten friend, was staring at him in wonder. 

"Dude, it almost looks like you're jealous." 

Adrien drew in a sharp breath, before forcing out a laugh. 

"Nino, that's impossible. What do I have to be jealous of? I'm just a little worried about her is all." 

"Are you sure, ma---" 

EEEAAAHHHH!!!!!

Luckily, Adrien was saved from trying to weasel his way out of his friend's suspicions by a scream piercing the air. Everyone panicked at once and they darted every which way; he weaved his way through the darting kids before finding a pillar to hide behind. 

"Plagg, claws out!" 

His transformation to Chat Noir was instantaneous, using his baton to get him to higher ground, he shot up to a roof. As he perched on the roof, he scoped the area, finally finding the source of all the turmoil. A huge man, in a wrestling suit was throwing cars this way and that. 

"That championship should be mine!" 

Uh, oh. Adrien thought as he sprung from roof to roof, trying to get closer. 

I really hope Ladybug shows up soon, he thought. Another girl he had been worrying about lately. He had received her voicemail a week ago, but she hadn't sounded like her normal self. There was also the fact, that Ladybug hardly ever cancelled patrols. Ever. Adrien, of course, was worried about his partner, hoping everything was okay. Suddenly his thoughts jumped back to Marinette and he fretted over her too. She really couldn't move that fast in her condition, what if she hadn't gotten to a safe place? What if she was hurt? Maybe he should go back and check...no, he had to take care of the akuma. With the akuma gone, she would be safe. 

Adrien's thoughts were interrupted as a spot of red landed lightly beside him. 

"Well, this doesn't look like fun." Ladybug said bitterly. 

Adrien grinned. 

"Nice to see you, My Lady." The words rolled off his tongue with a casual air instead of the usual flirtiness, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ladybug glance at him. He chuckled, nothing got past her. He saw her shrug, obviously choosing to ignore his odd behavior. She stood up slowly and took her yoyo in hand. 

"Well, we better take care of this before this wrestler cleans house." Ladybug said as she swung off the roof. 

Adrien stood in shock before howling with laughter as he too, made his way to the wrestler. 

"My lady, was that a wrestling pun?" 

She glanced back with a small smile on her face before landing on the ground in front of the wrestler. Adrien was a beat behind her. 

"Hey! You don't seem to have much draw, Mr. Wrestler!" He called out cheerfully. Adrien tensed as he saw the gigantic wrestler put down a car and turn towards them. 

"What did you say, little kitty cat? First of all, I am the BodySlammer! Don't tell me, Hawkmoth wants me to steal the miraculous' of a tiny kitty cat and a small little bug?" 

"We're more than enough to make you fall!" Ladybug taunted. With a roar, the BodySlammer charged at the two superheroes, causing them to scatter. 

Adrien grinned as he lunged to the side, he had missed this. 

 

 

Half an hour later, they were still fighting the BodySlammer. And Adrien could feel it, Ladybug was starting to get frustrated. She had already summoned her Lucky charm but couldn't get close enough to the BodySlammer to use it. Of course, he was getting tired and frustrated with this akuma too, but something felt off about Ladybug today. Her movements were jerky and sluggish, and her reaction time was slow. She had had too many near misses today, for his preferences. 

They both pulled back into an abandoned building. Ragged breaths escaping from lungs that desperately wished for them to be caught. 

"Chat," Ladybug paused for a minute to catch her breath before continuing, "Do you think you can distract him for a few minutes?" 

"Of course, My Lady, you have a plan?" He muttered. 

"Of course." She said as she straightened. "Ready?" She looked back, her eyebrows cocked in question and invitation. 

Adrien grinned in reply. 

 

Adrien swiftly dodged each fist as he played a game of cat and mouse with the BodySlammer. It irked him a bit, to be the mouse, but if it got rid of this akuma...he would gladly do it. Tripping over a brick, Adrien cursed and then quickly turned over. As he turned, he saw the akumatized victim posed with fists in the air and knees bent. Adrien's eyes widened as he realized that the BodySlammer was preparing to bodyslam him. Scrambling up, he tried to escape, but was jerked back. Rubbing his head, he found that his tail was stuck under some rubble. He frantically started pulling at it, trying to free it, as the BodySlammer began to jump. 

Pwing! He saw a flash of red as it shot beside his head. Ladybug had used her yoyo as a human sling shot, using it to shoot herself forward, trying to get close enough, and quick enough so he couldn't react. It had worked. She had latched on to his oversized body and ripped the belt, where the akuma was hiding, free. As she smiled in triumph, her eyes widened in surprise, as a meaty hand wrapped around her. Adrien heard her gasp in pain, as the BodySlammer squeezed her. 

If Adrien had to describe this moment later, he would admit that it felt like slow motion. 

He saw the hand move and realized what the hand was about to do a second before it did it. The giant hand threw Ladybug. And, Adrien... well, Adrien moved a second too late. 

BOOOOM!!! 

Adrien winced as he saw Ladybug collide with a brick wall. He saw her face go pale with pain and he ran to her as fast as he could. He saw her slowly fall onto her knees and trembling, she put her hands on the ground to stabilize herself. He cursed as going over the debris took longer than he expected. He had to get to her, to make sure she was okay. He tried calling out to her. 

"Ladybug, are you oka--"

"AHHHHHH!!!!" 

Adrien nearly stopped in his tracks when he heard her scream. Before she was even done screaming, Adrien started sprinting as fast as he could over to her. When he finally reached her, he knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to assess the damage that had been done when she had been thrown. 

Ladybug let out a closed mouth shout as soon as his light grip connected with her shoulder. He jerked his hands away, as if it burned. 

Oh, no. Oh god, she's seriously hurt. Goddamn it, I can't see anything. Adrien thought frantically. His hands went to hers, as he tried to help ease her into a sitting position, which should be more comfortable. His mind flashed back to another time, when he was trying to ease a different girl out of the concrete and into a more comfortable position. Of course that girl had been stuck because she had jumped off a building trying to save someone and collided with concrete; Ladybug was stuck because pain wouldn't allow her to move, after she had collided with a brick wall because she was trying to save dozen's of people...it was odd how similar this all was... 

Adrien shoved those thoughts out of his mind, as he tried his best to help Ladybug. She let him ease her back into her sitting position, with her weight resting on her heels. What Adrien saw next made him want to cry. 

Ladybug was sitting there, shaking, with her bottom lip clenched between her teeth, bleeding. Her fists and eyes were closed tight against the pain. Her face gray, the only color in her face was the blood on her teeth and the shining tears that spilled from her eyes. 

"My Lady..." 

"C-chat. Y-yo-u ha-have to br-r-reak the.... be -hu-lt." She sobbed in response. 

"My lady, you're hurt, we need to get you medical attention--"

"Chat, please." Adrien barely heard her whisper. Studying her for a minute, he removed his hands from where they had rested on her knees to move towards the belt that she had dropped. He drug himself to his feet before stomping on the belt, releasing a black butterfly. He turned back to see Ladybug pull herself to her feet. He rushed over to help her. She took a deep, shuddering breath before using her yoyo to capture the akuma. 

"You've done enough harm, little akuma. I'm freeing you from evil!" Her movements were jerky as a white butterfly escaped into the sky. 

"Bye-bye, little butterfly." She whispered as she stared after it. 

"Miraculous ladybug!" Ladybug threw her lucky charm into the air, returning Paris back to its former beauty. 

Immediately, a flock of reporters swarmed her. She backed up with a smile frozen on her face, excuses lying on her bloodstained teeth, but Adrien could see. Her eyes were still laced with pain, her body was still shaking in the most unladybug like way, her face was still as white as snow, there was still blood on her teeth. She was far from okay. Adrien started to try and push the reporters out of the way. If only he could get to her, get her out of here, get her help. He finally broke through, just in time to see her take a step off the edge, and fall into the river. 

He ran to the edge and sigh in relief as he found her bobbing right beneath the edge. 

"Here, Ladybug, let me help you out." Adrien said softly as he gripped her under the arms and lifted her out of the river. He could feel her wince at the contact, so as soon as he set her down on the ground, he let go. She sat there for a minute, shivering, hair sticking to her face and her eyes clenched shut in pain. 

Adrien heard the twittering of the reporters and knew that they had to get out of here. He stood abruptly and held out a hand to Ladybug. 

"My lady, shall we?" He inquired, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. 

As she took his hand, she looked up. And what Adrien saw next was something he never ever expected to see. 

There on her neck, were two dark red bruises. Hickies, to be frank. His eyes widened as he realized that they were in the exact same place as the ones he had given Marinette. 

He didn't know if it was possible, but his eyes widened even more as all of his encounters with Marinette and Ladybug came together as one. His long time crush and his girlfriend, came together as one. The same girl. Every single memory he had of each girl, was being laced and threaded together, creating a much larger picture. One and the same. 

Marinette is Ladybug. Ladybug is Marinette.

That was about when his world was completely destroyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I hope you guys clicked on the link at the beginning but if you didn't;
> 
> To clean house means a wrestler clears every man out of the ring. 
> 
> Draw means a wrestler's appeal to fans
> 
> and to Fall is the referee's count to three when the loser's shoulders are on the mat. 
> 
>  
> 
> So here we are, a reveal, sort of. I'll be updating next weekend. >:)
> 
> Have a good whatever (day, night, evening, morning, whatever I don't discriminate :) )
> 
> Love, 
> 
> Cutesylittledemon


	12. Okay

"Chat?" Ladybug asked with a cock of her head. 

Adrien's heart broke a bit as he practically felt the pain illuminated in her sparkling tears, running down her face. 

Drip. 

He saw the tear drop off her chin. 

Drip. 

He saw Marinette sobbing in her bedroom. 

Drop. 

Another tear fell. 

Drop. 

Another memory fell from his consciousness. 

"Ladybug..." Adrien heard the reporter start to say, and suddenly he was jerked back into reality. He could deal with his confusion later, right now she needed him. 

He scooped her up, trying to make his grip as light as possible, but still couldn't avoid her crying out in pain. 

"Sorry, no questions for the Lady today, boys." He said with his trademark grin as he used his baton to volt them up to a roof. He put his baton away and shifted his grip so that he was carrying Ladybug bridal style. Leaning close to her ear; 

"Brace yourself, its gonna be a mew-sirable ride." Adrien tried to lighten the mood, as he leaned forward, running and jumping from roof to roof. He was rewarded with a choked laugh and a shaking breath that rattled as it was sucked in. He hugged her closer, snuggling his nose into her hair. How could he let this happen? He should have seen it earlier. He should have seen Ladybug's pain. Her jerkiness, her slowed reaction, the pain behind the mask, he should have seen it. He should have seen the Ladybug was Marinette. 

Beep! BEEP! His thoughts were interrupted by the beeping of her Miraculous. 

"Chat..." He heard her gasp, from shock or from having no air, he couldn't tell. Well, it didn't matter. What mattered was how he was going to get her home without disclosing the fact that he had unmasked her. She couldn't handle that, or at least not right now. 

He would tell her eventually, of course. After everything calmed down, and feelings could be sorted out. Adrien really had no idea, how Marinette would react to him finding out her identity. She was always so adamant that their super hero and civilian lives should stay separate. But then again...she was dating Chat Noir as Marinette, he wasn't sure if that classified as separate. One thing Adrien was sure of, was that, she was going to be confused as he was. And, man, he was confused as hell. 

It's not that he was upset that Marinette was Ladybug. That wasn't it at all. In fact, it was wonderful and amazing. Finding out that he loved every side of that girl...it was enlivening, intoxicating and amazing. Yeah, really, really amazing. But it was also surprising, and shocking and...world shattering. Its not that he didn't love her still. In fact, he couldn't find a time that he was more in love with her, because now he knew her...all of her. His two images of his lovely ladies was being stitched together, and with every redrawn memory he could see Marinette in interactions with Ladybug and vice versa for his interactions with Marinette. Looking back on it now, he could never understand how he didn't see it before. He could, now, easily, see how they were the same person. Yet he could also see how different the two sides of her were. Such stark contrasts, yet he could see how they bled into one another, mixing with each side where they obvious weren't supposed to. Together they created a much larger picture. A beautiful, breathtaking picture. Together they created Marinette. Together, they created Ladybug. Together, they created her, his love. And that's all he needed. 

But he was still confused as to why she hid her identity. She always said that is was better for their identities to be hidden, that they could protect Paris better that way....but she always said it with shielded eyes that wouldn't meet his, and he couldn't help but wonder...did she really feel that way? Was there any other reason for her to hide her identity? 

He had his own reasons, to why he didn't reveal his identity to her as Marinette, ...mostly because he didn't think that she could love him as Adrien, not if she had feelings for Chat. But did Marinette truly believe he wouldn't love her as Ladybug? She knew that he had feelings for Ladybug, so then why? 

He was interrupted from his roiling thoughts by a small, soft voice;

"Chat, there's an alleyway by my house, that I can transform in. I'll be safe there, but we have to hurry." 

Adrien looked down at the girl he held tight in his arms and his eyes widened as he was shocked by what he found; Ladybug still had tracks on her face where her tears had escaped without consent, but said tears were no where to be found. Instead, her eyes held a sort of calm, as if it were the calm after the storm. Or perhaps before, Adrien couldn't tell.   
Sapphire eyes burning a blazing blue, burning with determination and acceptance and...trust. But there were, also, dark shadows illustrating restrained emotions, lurking within those intense pools. Emotions he had only seen in Marinette. Anger, sadness, love, happiness, lust, longing, excitement, pain. Emotions usually suppressed for the sake of their identities, laid bare in her tormented, so very blue, eyes. 

Adrien swallowed down his bursts of emotions for his girlfriend, and came to a decision. 

"You'll be able to get to your house on your own?" 

"I'm sure, I wouldn't suggest it if I couldn't." Ladybug had replied in a steady voice, but as Adrien looked down, he could have sworn he saw her lip quiver. 

"Okay." 

He made a final leap, his hair whipped back from his face before landing in the alleyway. He lightly set Ladybug down. Reaching out a hand, he rested it gently on her shoulder, to steady her, as her legs wobbled. He heard her suck in a shaky breath, before Ladybug glanced up at him. 

Adrien's heart melted as he saw her try her best to give him a reassuring smile, the same smile he had been seeing on Marinette for weeks now, hell, maybe months. 

"Thanks, Chaton, you really saved my ass today." 

"Sure, thing, My Lady. After all, you have a really paw-some ass, it would be a pity, if something happened to it." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. He had a girlfriend. True, Ladybug happened to be his girlfriend but she didn't know that. Or wait, she knew that she was his girlfriend but she didn't know that he knew. Wait...fuck it, it was too confusing trying to make it all out. 

To his surprise, she didn't kill him on the spot. 

"Come now, Chat. I've heard that your heart now belongs to another. No more flirting, just to flirt." 

He chuckled. That was a risky move she just used, there were a lot of holes in that story and if he really wanted he could easily call her out on it. He actually made Marinette jealous with herself. He could laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of this situation, if he didn't think he would make her worry.

"True, true. Now I'll leave you alone to your kwami." He bowed and raised himself up to the roof with his baton. 

"Ah, but My Lady?" 

"Yes, Chat?" Her voice echoed a bit, as it bounced off the wall up to him. 

"Next time, you can just tell me that you were seriously injured." He threw the words casually over his shoulder as he bounded away, but he meant it. And he couldn't help but allow a small, sad smile to ghost his lips, as he heard her whisper;

"Okay. "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Okay... ..... we're going to pretend this was totally not The Fault In Our Stars ripoff. We're also going to pretend that even though the last chapter was in Adrien's point of view and this chapter was supposed to be in Marinette's...I forgot where I was going with that, but we're just going to forget this tiny fact, okay? We're also going to forget that this chapter is hella short because I'm going to update the next part right after I post this one.   
> P.s Get ready for some serious fluff in the next chapter, and some possible angst...we'll see. 
> 
> Have a good whatever! 
> 
> Love, 
> 
> Cutesylittledemon


	13. Still Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #sorrynotsorry

Marinette somehow managed to detransform, drag herself from that alley, drag herself through the bakery with minimal questions from her parents, drag herself upstairs to her room and collapse on her door. That was about her limit. 

She collapsed on her locked door and held a hand over her mouth to muffle the sobs. Tikki was twittering around her, with murmured worries. Marinette felt bad, she really did, making Tikki worry like this, but right now all she wanted was to sob and cry as hard and as loud as she wanted. She didn't want to worry about worrying others, she didn't want to worry about questions, she didn't want to worry about how this affected the people who cared for her. She just wanted to be alone, to deal with all of this pain. 

Tikki eventually gave up trying to ask her if she was okay, moving up to snuggle in her hair, trying to provide her chosen some comfort through her muffled shrieks and shouts of pain. 

Marinette wasn't sure how long she sat there, with pain destroying her from the inside out, but it was long enough that Tikki had fallen asleep. She stared out at her room with dead eyes, becoming familiar with the aching, the throbbing and the burning. She didn't even have to look at her body to know that it was bad. She had gone too far this time. 

She couldn't help but think of ending it. Ending it all. Being Ladybug was too much. Lying to everyone, never feeling like she was good enough unless she was in the suit, feeling weak and useless, always giving up her entire life to protect the lives of others, feeling this pain. This pain, that she had to hide and deal with by herself. And for some reason this pain, was absolutely nothing, compared to the pain she hid in her heart every day. All of her fears and insecurities that she had to hide. All her negative emotions, all her hurt and anger and sadness. There was no place for these emotions in either Marinette or Ladybug, but present they still were. 

But even as she thought of just letting herself float away into the blue, the image of Alya, and her parents, and her classmates, and Nino, and Tikki, and Adrien, they all pulled her back. Then she thought of Green. 

Chat. 

Chat, who had made her happy, so happy. 

Chat, who brought out emotions she never thought she could feel. Or emotions that she had never allowed herself to feel. 

Chat, who made her laugh. 

Chat, who shared the burden of protecting Paris. 

Chat, who hated water and loved sweets.

Chat, who made her feel special, and needed, and loved. 

Chat, who loved to cuddle with her under blankets.

Chat, with his deep, understanding eyes. 

Chat, who hid his own fears and insecurities. 

Chat, who made lame puns.

Chat, the boy who she was falling in love with. 

I can't leave him, she realized. I don't want to. 

At that thought, she curled up tight into a ball. Trying to block out the surges of pain that swept throughout her body. 

Yes, if I just think of him, everything will be alright. 

With eyes of green in her mind, a boy in her heart, and courage in her soul, Marinette truly thought she could make it through. 

But that was before, her brain brought the persistent thought that had been badgering her for weeks, forward. Or maybe it had been months by now, she couldn't tell. 

Why did she jump? 

She bitterly recalled her jump off the roof. And as she started to lay down, curled up on her door, she finally admitted that she didn't jump to save the little girl. She didn't jump unconsciously. 

She knew exactly what she was doing. She knew that in jumping off that roof, she wasn't Ladybug, and she knew that it would most likely kill her. She had jumped knowing that. It didn't make her brave or heroic, it only made her cowardly. She seized a book lying near her and threw it across the room. She had wanted to escape. Escape from all of her responsibilities. She wanted to escape from all the lies. She wanted to escape from a Superhero that she was only pretending to be. But most of all, she had wanted to escape from herself. From the girl who was weak, pathetic, helpless. 

Marinette looked down at the floor, focusing blindly on a slightly darker spot. She could feel the tears starting to burn behind her eyes, she could feel them choking and tearing at her throat. She cleared her throat and blinked; reprimanding herself. 

I will not cry. I've done enough of that for today. 

Marinette closed her eyes tight, and bit her lip hard as fresh waves of pain resonated within her body, and she couldn't help the tears that escaped. It hurt, it hurt so bad. 

She opened her eyes, focusing on the spot on her floor again, allowing her tears to run down her face freely. Her thoughts turned inward again.

She had jumped to escape, but she had also jumped to prove. She wanted to prove to this city, to the world, to herself; that she could do something as Marinette. That she wasn't just a weak, pathetic existence in this Universe. That she could save someone. That Marinette and Ladybug was the same. 

Her heart grew angry at those thoughts. Because she knew. She knew that she wasn't the same as Ladybug, and she never could be. She had been deluding herself all this time. And at what price? The price of someone else's life? Oh god, she was despicable. 

She picked up a stuffed animal lying above her head. She screwed her eyes closed tight, and threw the stuffed animal with all her might. She regretted in immediately; a jolt as pain threaded its way up from her hand to her arm to her shoulder and all the way down her back. Marinette let out a strangled gasp of pain as her eyes flew open. It took a few minutes before her vision cleared enough to settle on black boots. 

She struggled to lift her head and saw Chat, holding the stuffed animal she had thrown. As she met his eyes, she wished she hadn't. 

She had seen this green so many times, it was so familiar. But never had she ever seen green like that. Dark, with anger and hurt and worry and pain and heart break.  
It stirred her heart, and as she locked eyes with his, she was afraid. 

"Chat, I--" 

She cut off her sentence and trailed into silence as he strode towards her. She watched as he bent down to her and set the stuffed animal lightly behind her head. She startled a bit when she felt his hands run over her hair lightly. Chat, removed his hands only to replace them gently underneath her, picking her up. 

His grip was so light, that Marinette could barely feel it. But, still, felt it she did, and she couldn't repress the groan of pain that left her mouth. 

She felt Chat quicken his pace. She closed her eyes and tried to stop the steady flow of tears that had started as soon as she realized he was here, in her room. She felt him sit down, and realized that he was on her chaise lounge. She braced herself as he leaned back. Tears falling more heavily as he cradled her against his chest. 

"Oh my god, baby." She heard him choke out in a whisper. 

I'm sorry, she thought. She couldn't stop him from worrying. She couldn't stop him from hurting because of her.  
She squeezed her eyes closed a bit tighter, before forcing them open in a burst of determination. 

"Sorry, Chat. It looks like I overdid it a bit at school. I should be fine soon." She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. But as she looked up into his eyes, she knew that he saw right through her. 

She was trying to think of what she would do if he called her out on her lie but let out a surprised mewl, as he lightly laid his hand on her head; pulling her face into his neck. 

Her eyes widened as she realized what it meant. He wasn't going to ask questions. He wasn't going to call her out. He knew it was a lie, but he knew she wasn't ready to tell him why. So he was just going to comfort her. 

I love him. 

I love him, Marinette thought as she pushed harder into his neck. She finally let go, sobbing as hard as she could, letting his neck muffle her anguished sounds. Her hand gripped his shoulder but soon came to rest in his hair, tangling in the reassuringly, soft locks. 

He just held her, murmuring things she couldn't make out, but comforted by the rise and fall of his warm voice all the while. She pressed her ear onto his chest and tried to quiet her sobs to make out his heart beat. 

Ba-Boom. Ba- Boom. Ba- Boom. 

It suddenly seemed too loud for her ears. But she just pressed her ear against his chest harder. Soon she was able to listen to his breathing too. In. Out. In. Ba-thump, went his heart. Out. Ba-thumb, went his heart. Listening to his breathing and his heart beat, calmed her considerably, and now her tears were light and silent as they streamed down her face. 

She felt Chat's hand under her chin, and when he lifted it, she could feel his breathing against her cheek. 

He turned her head and angled his, and then he was kissing her. He pressed his lips lightly against hers, just to let her know that he was there, to reassure her. As he pulled back, Marinette couldn't help but look into his eyes. They were still dark with tossing emotions, but the most present one was worry. She could see it etched across his face; against his cheekbones, in the slope of his jaw, across the curve of his lips. And she couldn't help but feel the guilt well up inside her. She turned her head away, not being able to bear looking at him any longer. 

Marinette felt Chat's fingers under her chin again, applying pressure upwards but she pulled out of his grasp. She couldn't face him, not when he looked like that. Not when she was the one who made him look like that. She felt his fingers underneath her chin again, and was about to shake out of his grip again, when she felt a demand on his fingers. 

Marinette was suddenly painfully aware of his gaze on her and the demand, that she look at him, on his fingers. When he pulled his fingers upwards, she didn't not break away. 

He looked at her for a moment. Eyes darker than she ever could have imagined. 

"Chat...?" She started in a small, frightened way. 

Before, she could even finish her musings, his lips were on hers again. Somehow he managed to make the kiss passionate, but still keep it soft and light. His lips moved against hers, and she groaned when he took her bottom lip into his mouth, grazing it with his teeth. One hand was still gripping under her knee, to keep her in place, and the other was roaming from her hair, down her face, to her neck; making small swirling patterns as he went. 

His hand came up to rest on her face, as he pressed against her lips a bit harder, deepening the kiss. Marinette moved her tongue to press against his lips, asking permission to enter. Chat obliged, granting her entrance as he eagerly pressed his tongue against hers. 

He pulled away and she groaned from the loss of contact. His breath breathed over her lips as he allowed her to catch her breath. She moved suddenly, ignoring the agonizing pain that rippled underneath her skin, caused by the action. She shifted herself until she was sitting in her lap, facing him, one hand resting on his chest and allowing her other hand to rest on his cheek, her thumb lightly stroking the soft skin beneath. His hand came up to lightly pet her wrist but jerked his hand away, when she flinched as he ran his fingers over a blackening bruise.

Marinette closed her eyes and sighed. She had forgotten all about her pain at this point. Chat always did that to her, made her forget her pain. Or perhaps, he took it away. She opened her eyes and managed a small smile, that she knew looked a little too sad.

"It's okay, Chat." 

Marinette rested her forehead against his as her arms wrapped around his neck. 

"It's okay...." 

She closed her eyes again to block out his gaze of disbelief, so she didn't see him lean in a press his lips on hers again.  
Her eyes flew open, as Chat kissed her. She closed her eyes again, when she felt how he was kissing her. 

His arms had gathered her up, bringing her as close as possible. Marinette tried to make her whimpers of pain quiet, but she knew he heard them when she felt his grip slacken. So she tried to make up for it, by pressing her body as close to his as she could. 

Chat's lips were moving against hers, but this time with such tenderness. She felt everything he was trying to say;

You scared me. You're still scaring me. I'm worried. I love you. You're hurt. It hurts seeing you like this. I hate seeing you like this. I hate seeing you cry. Are you okay? Why? I love you. Don't worry, it'll be alright. Please don't cry. You'll be alright. I love you. 

She could help the tears flowing from her eyes, as she kissed him. She felt it, what he was trying to tell her. Everything that he couldn't say out loud, he poured into that kiss. And she heard it. Trying to kiss him back with the same tenderness. Trying to convey that it was alright, that he didn't need to worry, that she was sorry, that she loved him too. 

She broke the kiss, to gasp for air. This action effectively shooting pain to her ribs and back, but she was beyond caring. She looked deep into Chat's eyes, trying to read everything unspoken. He let her stare for a few minutes, before he sighed. 

He leaned up to kiss her again, this one one a closed mouth and light kiss. But loving and electrifying, still. He pulled away quickly, and let his hands lightly roam upwards from where they rested at the back of her knees. Gripping her thighs, he gathered her into his laps before squirming his way to the edge of the chaise lounge. He stood up, and Marinette wrapped her arms and legs around him to avoid falling. Chat took steps toward the bathroom, his arms still on her thighs, supporting her. 

"Let's get you cleaned up, My Lady." He murmured into her hair. 

Marinette felt her own body stiffen. 

My lady. My Lady. My lady, resonated through her head. 

She jerked his head up, and saw Chat's face turn from horrified to embarrassed to guilty and to finally calm. He looked at her coolly, waiting for her reaction. 

Marinette knew her eyes were still wide, and her face blank. Slowly she unwrapped her legs and lowered herself painstakingly to the floor. She unwound her arms and took a step back, putting some distance between them. 

"Chat, did you just call me "My Lady"?" She asked in a whisper. 

Chat didn't respond. Marinette finally dragged her gaze up to meet his eyes. 

1...

2...

3...

Three seconds they stood there, looking into each others eyes. 

She swallowed hard. 

"You know." It wasn't a question. Marinette saw Chat slowly nod. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her. Her mind exploding with questions and thoughts and emotions. 

"Mari...." He started with his hands outstretched towards her. She sank to the floor and Chat went down on his knees with her. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her. Marinette didn't stop him, she didn't have the strength. 

But she didn't embrace him back. She didn't cry, she didn't push him away, she just sat there. 

Inside she was a wreck. Her entire thought process was derailed and might never again see a new train of thought disembark. Her heart...she didn't know what her heart felt yet. 

"Mari, let's at least get you cleaned up, yeah?" She felt Chat's voice vibrate against her head, as he hugged her from behind, his arms wrapped around his shoulders. 

She shook her head. She didn't want to move. She didn't want to move or do anything. She didn't want to acknowledge anything.

"Marinette, c'mon. We need to tend to these wounds. Please, baby, you're too hurt right now." She could hear the desperation and worry in his voice. Marinette finally looked up and was shocked to see tears leaking through Chat's mask. She saw his franticness and panic and...worry. She looked down again and swallowed. 

"Okay." 

She let Chat guide her up. She let him take her hand and pull her towards the bathroom. 

Marinette saw how straight his back was, how tense he was. She nearly crashed into his back when he suddenly stopped. She looked at him curiously as he looked over his shoulder to look at her. 

"Marinette, this doesn't change anything. I still love you." 

Love you. 

Love you. 

Her eyes widened as he said it. He had never said it out loud. 

Love you. 

Her eyes once again, filled with tears, as he turned back and pulled her into the bathroom. 

Maybe, everything would be alright after all. But can he really love me? Does he really love me? When he figures out what I really am, will he still love me? She couldn't help but wonder, if Chat Noir truly loved her or was infatuated with the idea of her. Or perhaps the idea of Ladybug? 

She didn't know. She just didn't know. But at this point she didn't care. Nothing mattered at this point, nothing except for the fact that

He 

Still 

Loved 

Her. 

Marinette couldn't restrain the small smile the crept over her features, as a boy in a leather (or possible latex) cat suit pulled her into her bathroom. 

But still at the back of her brain, a small thought was germinating. 

What if he finds out why you jumped?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: So this may have been slightly more angsty than fluffy.
> 
> Sorry *shrugs*  
> Anyways, I feel like this plot is moving really quickly, but then again, I feel like its dragging by. What do you guys think?  
> Have a good whatever! 
> 
> Love, 
> 
> Cutesylittledemon


	14. Still Smiling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reading Note: Rating Pg-13 to T, please proceed carefully my smol ones.

Adrien led Marinette into her bathroom and turned on the water in the sink. He finally let go of her to grab a washcloth and wet it under the water. He turned back to his girlfriend and began to wipe her tear stained face. He jerked back when he saw her flinch, pain making its way across her features. He tried again, trying to make his approach lighter, more gentle. He wiped her face, clearing it of saltwater and dirt. He set a light kiss to her brow as he moved his hands to tug her cardigan down. 

Marinette immediately became defensive. Shrugging her shoulders upwards, arms coming to cross her body, tugging her cardigan tighter in front of her body. Her eyes turning downwards, avoiding his gaze.

"Marinette..." He began, a balmy warning held in his voice, "I need to see, we need to see how bad it is.", he finished softly, "I swear, I'll try my best not to hurt you. I'll be as gentle as I can." 

"I know." Marinette said as she swallowed hard, "I'm not worried about that, but Chaton, you're not going to be happy." She whispered while looking up from her eyelashes. Adrien frowned at that, obviously he wasn't going to be happy. He tucked a loose hair behind her hair and blew out his breath. 

"I'm already not happy, bugaboo, but that's not the issue right now. We need to get these wounds taken care of." 

Adrien's frown deepened as Marinette's eyes strained to the floor again. Her arms fell to the side as she gave a little nod, but her stance was still the same. Defensive and...guilty. His eyes widened as he made the realization. 

"Mari...", he started softly, taking her hands in his, "you can't possible think that I'm mad at you for getting hurt?"

He saw her shift, her eyes still trained on the floor.

"Marinette, I'm not mad at you. True, I'm upset that you're hurt, but I'm not mad at you."

He heard her sigh again, and finally saw her look up.

"Chat, I know...I just...I don't like making you worry. I don't like seeing how you look at the cuts and bruises. I hate how I'm the cause of your unhappiness!" Marinette's volume changed drastaically from a zero to a ten in the span of three sentences. She yanked her hands out of his and turned away from him. His eyes widened as his hands reached out to her instinctively. They stopped in midair as his hypersensitive hearing, picked up the barely whispered phrase that left her lips next. 

"Especially, when you are my happiness."

He felt like his world collapsed. In the best way. In the most amazing way possible. I'm her happiness, he felt the phrase pulse through his veins before sealing it away in his heart. He deflated a bit, when he saw Marinette's back, seeming impossibly small. 

"Marinette, turn around and look at me...please." 

Marinette turned around with her head down, bangs shading her eyes. Adrien sighed, and hooked his fingers under her chin, moving his fingers slowly to ascertain no accidental pressing on bruises, and lifted it lightly. Marinette allowed her face to be lifted but defiantly, refused to meet his eyes. He sighed again. 

He pressed the pads of his fingers to her hips, trying to bring her closer as gently as possible. Marinette understood his intentions and after hesitating for a second, moved to comply with his unspoken request. Her eyes still determinedly down. Adrien leaned down, put his forehead on hers and nuzzled her slightly. 

"Now where did you get the idea that you were the cause of my unhappiness?" 

"BECAUSE I KNOW I AM, Chat!" Adrien jerked back at the fire burning in her voice. Meeting her eyes for the first time in what felt like an eternity, he remembered another memory of blue, one that he hoped he never had to see again; he saw the inky blue of the sky, sparkling with stars. But this sky was a bit different from the one he remembered. The inky blue was definitely the same, but the stars in her eyes burned with guilt and self-loathing; connecting to make constellations of pain and self-hatred induced delusions. He opened his mouth to begin a counter-argument when she interrupted. 

"Whether as Ladybug or Marinette; all I cause you is pain and heart break and worry and unhappiness! Its not fair to you! I am never fair to you, Chat. I'm always letting you take the fall or take the hit, I'm always letting you suffer alone...while no matter who I am...you..y-your always... saving me" This was all Marinette managed to get out before abandoning her fabricated self-composure and sobbing into her hands. 

Adrien stood there in shock, his jaw dropped open, as his girlfriend broke down in front of him. 

Is this what she has been feeling all of this time? How could she possibly think that? It was just the opposite! 

"You-you're always ta-taking all the problems onto yourself. You-u always bur-burden yourself with all of the responsibility! And I-I always let y-you. And...and..and I-uungh-I am always taking advantage of you...I'm always letting you be my shield, C-Chat. I'm always u-u-using you as my security blanket...I let you take o-on all of my problems and leave you to deal with your own by your s-s-self." Marinette wailed. Rubbing her eyes, she continued on while Adrien stood looking at her, wide-eyed and wide-mouthed, open with disbelief. 

"An-and I didn't jump...to save...the little girl. B-but---I still want you to l-love me because--because I love you a-a-and you know I'm Ladybug and I'm Marinette b-but they're two---two---two separate people! And I'm not either of them! I-hng- I'm just me and I know I'm not enough...and y-you deserve so much better! But I'm...I'm selfish enough to want you and want to be happy and I k-know I shouldn't! A-and I'm a mess and e-everything is a mess and I ca-can't fix it...and...and it hurts. Everything hurts...and I make you unhappy and sad and worried an-and I can't do it anymore! I just...j-just..." She managed before dissolving into incoherent sobbing again. 

And Adrien just stared at this girl, this beautiful girl. Who was making absolutely no sense, but at the same time, made perfect sense to him. Oh, this lovely, vulnerable, foolish girl. Damn, he adored her. 

Adrien's body moved before he could think about what he was doing, but for once his mind agreed with his unconscious actions. 

One of his hands came to the back of her head and the other to the small of her back. Pressing lightly, he pressed her to his chest. For a minute Marinette, was shocked into unresponsiveness. But Adrien just wrapped his arms around her a bit farther, having no intention of letting go anytime soon. Suddenly Marinette buried her face into his chest, her body shaking and trembling with heartbreaking sobs. Her hands clenched the smooth fabric encasing his shoulders. 

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." Adrien tightened his grip as he heard Marinette's muffled whisper. 

"Okay, okay. You're going to be alright, sweetie. Everything's going to be alright. Mari...My Lady...you'll be okay. I'll make sure of it. That's right, my love, just calm down. We'll be okay. We'll be fel-ine. Oh, my sweet, beautiful, silly, Marinette." Adrien kept whispering her name and calming words over and over again, waiting until her sobbing had stopped and her trembling had quelled. 

"Okay, princess, we need to have a talk." Adrien pulled back a bit and started to stroke her silky, raven- colored, hair when he felt her nod, her head faced the floor again but only to hide the budding tears that were threatening to spill over. She reached a hand up to wipe them away, before she looked up at him. Adrien allowed himself a small smile; for the first time in weeks her eyes were calm and serene, just like the morning sky. She looked adorable, her lower lip poked out slightly, her cheeks rosy from her emotional exertion, her hair mused from where he had been playing with it, the realization that Marinette, that Ladybug, was human. All of it was slightly irresistible. Oh hell, who was he kidding? It was totally and completely irresistible, there was no slightly at all.He stopped his ministrations of her hair, in favor of planting his hands on her hips.

He gave her a soft smile, silently asking her to trust him, as she looked up at him questioningly. 

"Up we go, yeah?" Adrien motioned with his head towards the bathroom counter. She nodded and placed her hands on his where they rested on her hips, signaling her permission. He hoisted her up as lightly as possible, taking extra care to make sure his gloved fingers weren't pressing to hard into her bruised skin. 

After making sure she was in a comfortable position on the counter, he let his hands drift to the hard surface on each side of her. He let his head dip down as he decided what to do next. He blew out his breath and looked up, making sure to meet Marinette's eyes. 

"I know we need to talk, but right now, I'm also starting to seriously panic over your injuries, so let's multitask. We'll talk as I bandage and clean you up, okay?" Adrien asked as her lightly stoked the top of her cheek. 

"Okay." She agreed softly. 

"Alright, now where to begin? First thing's first, you are literally the best thing that has ever happened to me, got it?" He let a little smirk light up his face as he saw her nod, before continuing, " Okay, now where do you keep your first aid kit? Downstairs or? Oh, underneath here? Okay, I'm going to take off your cardigan now, okay, baby?" Adrien asked her as he pulled out bandages, band-aids, antibiotic ointment and re-wetting a new washcloth. He set the box aside as he tugged down Marinette's cardigan. He tried not to inhale too sharply as he saw the blood smeared in brown crusts down her arms and shoulders. And he tried not to let the worry slip onto the features as he saw the rainbow of bruises that decorated her skin.   
But, I guess, Adrien failed. 

Marinette rested her hands in her lap, her head downcast, once again. 

"Sorr--"

"Nope, do not apologize." Adrien cut her off before she could finish her apology, " This is not your fault. Which brings us to the next topic of our little chat." He began as he washed her arm before starting to bandage it. " You're right, I get upset when I see you hurt. I don't like it, in fact, I hate it. It's only natural for me to be worried and upset when the one I love is in pain. I-opps, I'm so sorry, sweetie, I pulled too hard. Look, Mari, you are my everything. So that means that when you're happy, so am I and when you're sad, so am I. So, the same goes for your pain. And no, before you start, it is not your fault. It is because I love you, end of story. Here, I'm going to pull your tank top strap down a bit. " Adrien was trying his best not to blush, as he pulled the strap down. Picking up the antibiotic ointment, he slathered some on the large gash that was taking up the top of Marinette's right shoulder. Sticking a band-aid on the cut as he continued. 

"Baby...I know I'm reckless when I'm protecting you. And a lot of times I get hurt because of it, but its fine with me, because at least then I know you are safe. I would much rather know that you are safe and harm free than to forgo a little pain. I know...I know you don't like it, just as much as I don't like it when you do it for me. But you would do it for me over and over again without any thought, right? Exactly. Lift your head up a bit for me, there you go." Adrien ran the washcloth over her neck before running it under the faucet to clean it off again. After wringing it out, he continued his path down his neck onto her shoulder. 

"Marinette, I have already told you that I love you and that nothing will change that. And it's true, god is it true, Mari. And I know I've already said it but you are my everything. My entire life, my entire world, my entire universe. You are my everything. So don't ever worry about burdening me or that you're undeserving me, because that is sure as hell, not true." Adrien paused here, and looked up into her face, seeing the slight doubt in her eyes. He stopped cleaning her off, pausing midway down her arm to lean in and lightly peck her on the lips. "It's not true. It's not. In fact, I feel like its the other way around." Adrien kissed her again, taking her lips in his, letting her warmth wash over him and effectively silencing the argument she was about to pose. He let himself stay there for a minute, his lips pressed against hers, sparks passing through his lips and somehow infiltrating his bloodstream. For a minute, he let himself melt. He pulled away, only to lean in again and give her another peck on the lips. 

"Marinette, I feel the exact same way that you do, all the time. Those little doubts and insecurities...everyone feels them from time to time. And so it's my job to reassure you when you feel like that, but bugaboo, you have to tell me when you're feeling that way, or I won't know." He picked up the washcloth, rewashed it and continued on with the rest of her arm. Beginning to gently wrap her bruised wrist. Dabbing antibiotic ointment on cuts, here and there, as he went. 

"Now, what I really want to discuss with you, is about that last part. What did you mean about how you didn't jump to save the little girl? And about Marinette and Ladybug? And not being good enough?" He paused in his rapid firing of questions, trying to give her time to prepare herself. He also had a dilemma. He had bandaged all the injuries he could, that were on the outside of her clothes. 

Oh. 

Fucking. 

Bloody. 

Hell. 

"Mari..." He started softly.

"I know, I know. I'll answer, I'm just trying to figure out how to say it." Marinette said hurriedly. 

"Umm...no, it's just that, to finish the bandaging...I..um, well, I need to take off your shirt." Adrien scratched the back of his head as a blush painted his cheeks. He saw her head snap up, and her jaw drop open. He saw her look down before looking up at him, and flushing a dark red all the way down to her neck. Finally, he saw her look away again, before nodding. 

"Okay, go ahead." 

"Its okay if you not okay with this, but you're too weak to bandage yourself so we can find another way, a---wait, what? Go ahead?" Adrien had rushed to reassure her but was left flabbergasted when he finally registered what she had said. 

Marinette finally turned and looked him. Her blue eyes drilling into his green, a blush still staining her cheeks but her words rang out clear and concise. 

"Yeah, I can't bandage myself and I can't ask my parents or Alya. Right now, I need your help and its not like I don't trust you. ....besides, it's not like you weren't going to see me eventually.... although my body isn't in the best of shape right now..." As Marinette finished, her words started to dwindle and she looked down at her hands gripped in her lap. 

Adrien couldn't help but chuckle. He wrapped his arms around her waist, letting his head rest on her shoulder and snickered into her neck. 

"It's not that funny!" Marinette huffed indignantly. 

"No, it's not that. It's just...you're cute." 

She huffed again as he pulled back, a gentle smile replacing his wicked one. He let his hands run slowly from her waist to her hips where the hem of her shirt rested. He gripped it lightly in his fingertips before looking up at her one last time, asking for a last minute approval. Marinette lifted her arms over her head, signifying her approval. 

He leaned forward, making sure his mouth brushed her ear as he whispered;

"And you know, any glimpse of your body, in any state, is a glimpse into heaven itself." Adrien could practically feel the heat of her blush coming off in waves as he lifted her shirt. 

 

The only thing Adrien could think of when he looked down was; 

Black. 

Lacy. 

Not good girl, at all. 

Bra. 

He tried really, really hard not to stare at said black, lacy, bra and the cleavage between it. He really did. He tried really hard to focus on the blackening bruises circling her ribs, mottling down her finely toned stomach. He tried really hard to remember he was bandaging his girlfriend, who's entire torso and upper and middle back was a swirl of unnatural colors. 

He was trying really really really hard.

He knew Marinette was watching him swoop his gaze up and down, and he knew she saw the blush on his cheeks darken. Remembering, where he was and who he was, he snapped his gaze back up to her face from the dark confines of where it had begun to rest. 

"W-well, at least you're collarbone isn't too bad, hardly any bruises!" His faked casual air, was well noted by Marinette. And he couldn't help but feel his heart leap all the while his stomach sank, when he saw her devilish smile. 

"Would you like to change that?" 

1...

2...

3...

Three seconds, is about how long it took for him to process her request. Three seconds until she had rendered him incapable of responding. Ever. 

He groaned and dropped down to to his knees, leaning his forehead against the edge of the counter. The Universe was testing him to resist temptation. If there was a god out there, this was his test. He peeked back up to see his girlfriend grinning down at him, obviously amused. She raised her eyebrows expectantly. He groaned again and dipped his head back. 

"Chat, I was kidding. You don't have to." She laughed while leaning forward to peer over the edge at him. 

He looked up at her again, and he was sure that by now his entire face must be red. Suddenly, he could never be more glad that he was wearing a mask that covered half of his face. 

"That was not nice." 

His comment was met with more laughter, and then a sharp intake of breath as pain marred her features. Adrien took a deep breath and stood up, quickly. She looked at him, amusement making her eyes wink and shine at him. He took another deep breath before gesturing to her bare collar bone. 

"May I?" Adrien was trying to not blush too hard, when Marinette took his hands in hers. Stroking her thumb over his, she replied;

"I offered, didn't I?" 

That was all he needed. Adrien swooped down gently and kissed the center of her collarbone before taking the skin into his mouth. He swiped his tongue over the area, earning him a small moan, before lightly sucking on the skin. He sucked harder as he heard her intake of breath. Her hands came up to settle into his hair, and his hands tried to find a place to hold that wasn't covered in bruises. He finally settled with one hand on her right hip and the other on her left mid-thigh. He stroked the covered skin with his thumb, sucking harder still when he heard her moan a little bit louder. He felt her desire alight under her skin, and was enchanted with the thought that he was the one who caused it. 

He pulled away, quickly, before he lost control of himself. He rubbed his thumb over the red mark he had created, before looking at her with heady eyes. 

Marinette looked much the same, with her mouth opened a bit, her breaths coming heavy. A blush blossoming over her cheeks, and her eyes dark with desire and power. And for probably the billionth time since Adrien met her, he couldn't tell if he was in heaven or hell. And for the billionth time, he didn't care. 

Suddenly he straightened up and pulled his hand away. Grabbing the bandages he began to ramble, to take his mind off things he was not supposed to be thinking of. 

"Here, we better finish this quickly, a-and you still have questions to answer, don't you?!" His hands trembling a bit as he started to wrap her stomach. 

The grin wiped off her face, Marinette was silent for a while and Adrien waited patiently. She sighed before deciding to speak. 

"I don't think I jumped to save the little girl, Chat...I think I jumped to...escape....or maybe to prove something or maybe both."

"What do you mean?", he muttered, focusing all his energy on wrapping the bandage and her words and definitely not on her bra, inches from his fingers.   
He heard her swallow hard before continuing. 

"I, I don't feel like Ladybug, Chat. And I'm still not sure, that she is me at all. I feel like she is a whole separate person. A person, who is much better than I am. After all, Ladybug is Paris' hero. And I'm just...Marinette. I'm no one, compared to Ladybug. And I can't help but think, is she really me? Or is it just awkward, clumsy, Marinette stuck in a superhero suit. Sometimes it feels like that's all I am, when I'm Ladybug, all I am is a suit. I think, I jumped to prove that I can do something without her. That I'm just...just as good, as Ladybug. It was stupid." 

Adrien listened silently, his attention, now, focused completely on her and what she was saying. 

"I also think, that maybe, I jumped to escape. Escape all my responsibilities as Ladybug and even, as Marinette. I think I was trying to escape everything, unconsciously....the pressures and the pain. I can't explain it well, but I just...As Ladybug, Marinette's life is put on hold. Everything is sacrificed to save other people, and sometimes that frustrates me. And I guess, lately, its been overwhelmingly frustrating. I don't know how to balance Marinette and Ladybug. But being Marinette...I have my family to take care of, my friends, my school work and everything else, I still have all of those responsibilities. And I'm tired of lying to everyone and making up excuses. I'm tired of lying to myself. And I know I sound really whiny, but sometimes it feels like there is too many responsibilities. And Sometimes it feels like a lot of those are forced on me just because I am who I am....Sometimes I feel, like I'm neither Marinette or Ladybug, that they're just two masks I put on." 

She paused and Adrien took the chance to interrupt. 

"Maybe its true, that you jumped to prove or jumped to escape, but I also, think you jumped to save the little girl. You deal with the struggles of Ladybug and Marinette, day after day, because you love the people who you're involved with. You're right when you say you have a lot of responsibilities, no one else would be able to handle half of what you do. It's one of the reasons I've always admired you, but its okay to feel like it's too much. Its human to feel like it's too much. But I also know that you can handle it, you're strong enough to. Right now, you're trying to figure out just who you are but I can tell you, Mari, you were right when you said you were neither Ladybug or Marinette; you are both, together they blend and mix until they create something beautiful: you. I can see it, a little bit of Ladybug invading on your Marinette side and a little bit of Marinette invading on your Ladybug side. Its all you, sweetie, just you. You don't have to label yourself as Marinette or Ladybug. You can call yourself whatever you want. I don't care what you decide, I will love you no matter what. Because I love all of you, including Marinette and Ladybug and whoever is in-between. I love you."

 

He nuzzled Marinette, giving her an Eskimo kiss, which she easily turned into a kiss more native to France. Despite the passion, the kisses were slow and sweet, but as deep and with as much feeling, as Adrien could manage. All too soon, for Adrien's tastes, he broke away;

"But there is one thing I never want to hear you say again; I never want to say that you are not good enough. You are good enough for me, you are good enough for Paris, you are good enough to be Ladybug. You are Ladybug, and you are Marinette and you are you. You are beautiful, gorgeous, bad-ass, talented, kind, strong, compassionate...I could go on and on, and one day I will, Marinette. I just need you to know, that you are amazing and don't you ever think differently." He kissed her again, his hands resting on her knees and her hands on his neck, pulling him closer. Every touch sent blazing heat running throughout his body. Every touch left him breathless and dizzy. And he loved every minute of it.

Adrien pulled away, a frown on his face. Marinette had shared her most vulnerable side; her inner thoughts that she hadn't told anyone; she had told him everything, and the guilt festering under his skin was beginning to eat away at him painfully. 

"Marinette, I know, you've had a long day and a lot has happened today but I need to tell you something." 

"Hmm, what is it, Chat?" She tilted her head to the side in confusion. 

"Mari, I want to show you my identity." He paused and held his breath, and waited for her to object. It was a force of habit, by now. 

She looked at him pensively, before bringing her hand up to his cheek, resting it there. 

"Minou, you don't have to, if you don't want to."

"I want to." Adrien rubbed her hand, before continuing, "I'm just not sure, that you'll like who's on the other side of the mask. He's quite different from, Chat, you know." 

Adrien had expected gentle reassurance, however, he should have known better. 

He felt Marinette's hands leave his face, before coming back to strike his face, her opposite hand mirroring the action. 

"OWww!" He reached up to rub his cheeks to find her hands still there, squishing his cheeks together. 

"Chat Noir, you idiot. Didn't we literally just go through this? Weren't you the one spouting sappy crap about how it doesn't matter what other names I use, that you'll love me just the same. So why the hell, do you think that that doesn't apply to you too?" 

"Umm, wwheell." Even if he could have gotten out a coherent answer with his cheeks mushed together, he didn't have a good answer. 

"Chat Noir, my silly Kitty. I love you. Simple, remember? End of story. It doesn't matter who is on the other side of the mask. Because its like you said, you blend together to make a big, beautiful picture. It doesn't matter what other name you go by, because I will still love you." 

Adrien smiled, a strange sight due to his girlfriend's hands. God, he really loved this girl. He was still smiling when he removed her hands and replaced them on his chest. He was still smiling when he pressed his lips to hers. He was still smiling when he released his transformation. 

He didn't know what was going to happen next, but he knew he was going to keep smiling. Because she was definitely the best thing that had ever happened to him. And he was so glad she jumped, because it gave him the chance to fall for her. 

And he had continued falling every day. He could only hope, that she continued jumping and that she would continue to let him catch her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I know...this seems like the end, and I assure you the end is near! Buuuuttt there is going to be one more chapter, you lucky ducks. Is this enough angst and fluff and sin to satisfy your hunger, my little ones? I hope so. Anyways, as always leave me your thoughts in the comments below! I love you guys!!!
> 
> Have a good whatever! 
> 
> Love, Cutesylittledemon
> 
> P.S. I apologize for the weird author's note and if this chapter is not as well edited as the others (as if those were well edited, you fool)


	15. I jumped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sort of an epilogue.

Marinette grinned as she jumped for roof to roof, patrolling the nearly silent city as it slept. With each burst of energy that came with each leap, Marinette couldn't help but feel as if she was flying; but then again, it seemed that she always felt like she was flying these last few months. 

She paused her leaping for a moment to examine her city. And it was hers, for the first time in a long time, she remembered why she was protecting this city. She looked around, taking in all the familiar sights. There was the steeple of the chapel, and right over there was the little cafe, Adrien, had taken her for her first date. 

Adrien. 

Chat Noir. 

She smiled as she thought about the boy who had changed her life so drastically in the last year, or so. 

You could definitely say she was surprised when she found out they were the same person.   
Her smile turned nostalgic as she remembered the night that he revealed his identity. 

 

She had been sitting on her bathroom counter, in nothing but her bra and pants. Marinette giggled as she remembered how badly Adrien had been blushing then. Even with a mask covering half of his face, nothing could have concealed the dark flush that overcame his features. And then he had hid from her, trying to hide his much too obvious embarrassment. 

But he came out eventually, she remembered. Yes, that was when he took her up on her offer to leave marks on the only unmarked skin dressing her body. She giggled again.

Marinette let her fingers come up and, lightly, trace the center of her collar bone, the memory seared into her skin. 

Oh course, that night hadn't been all fun. Not fun, but important. That was the night that Adrien told her that he loved her. Over and over. By now, those three words had been imprinted all over her entire being, and she couldn't have been happier. 

That night, Marinette had let all of her masks come off. She let him explore every aspect of herself, every aspect that she had hidden from everyone for so long, even the aspects that she had hidden from herself. She let him see her, for who she truly was. 

That was also the night, that he did the same. That was the night that she learned that Adrien was Chat Noir. Marinette remembered her shock when he pulled back from kissing her, only to see the guy who she gave up on. She remembered sitting there, mouth wide open, while Adrien shifted awkwardly and with his eyes downcast. She remembered giggling, most likely insanely, as she realized the ridiculousness of it all. She remembered Adrien looking at her with concern, and slight fear laced in green eyes. Green eyes that she had fallen in love with twice. After she explained it all to him, his eyes had widened and it was his turn for his mouth to drop open in shock. 

Marinette remembered whispering "I love you," before kissing him again. She remembered how he whispered "I love you, too," as he moved his lips against hers. She remembered a lot of kissing that night. 

She giggled again, when she remembered the blush blooming under his skin when he realized that she was still shirtless. 

But that night had been important. So important. Marinette remembered letting Adrien pull her to the roof, carrying blankets and pillows. They had laid down, staring up at the stars, hands entwined. And they talked. About everything. They talked about her, about him, about Ladybug and Chat Noir. And she told him everything; about meeting Tikki, and about her insecurities, about all that happened this year, about all her doubts and hidden feelings, about the boy that she gave up on, about the time she jumped off a two-story building and finally about the boy that saved her. He had talked too, about his mom and dad, about meeting Plagg and his classmates, about meeting her, about falling in love with Ladybug, about his favorite movies, about how he fell in love with a silly, but lovely, girl who jumped off the roof. They had talked about the stars and the moon and the universe itself. He had laughed and she had giggled. They had been silent for a while. And then they talked more. 

They talked about everything, until they fell asleep. 

That night was one of her fondest memories, even if it started off horribly. 

But that had been months ago. So many things had changed since then, she had changed since then. Of course, most of the change was brought on by a gorgeous cat boy with ridiculously poufy hair and even more ridiculous puns. Ah, that boy, how she loved him. 

Him. 

She loved the taste of that word in her mouth. It was probably her third favorite, coming in close behind boyfriend and Adrien. 

A sharp wind blew, jerking her out of her musings, as she readjusted her position on the roof. Marinette closed her eyes and let the wind over take her for a minute, allowing it to steal her thoughts and memories. Letting peace enter her body and fill her heart. She breathed in. Out. In. Out.   
Peace that had escaped her just months ago, seemed so instinctive now. Keeping her eyes closed and her thoughts and memories return, she thought about him again. 

Adrien. Chat. 

Her heart overflowed at just the thought of his name. And she couldn't contain the grin that split her face as she thought of the last few months. 

There was that night. 

There was their first date at that little cafe, where Adrien accidentally spilled his coffee because he was so nervous. Marinette had helped him clean it up, before taking him by the hand and dragging him on a walk. With her giggling all the while, he explained that he wanted everything to be prefect. 

There was the time that they went to the movies and she had come out bawling over the sad ending. Adrien had taken her home and cuddled with her until she feel asleep. 

There was the time that Marinette had introduced him to her parents as her boyfriend. They had warmly embraced him, and only let go when she pointed out that he was turning blue from lack of oxygen. 

There was the time when she taught him how to make cookies. It took Adrien three tries before he could make him on his own without burning them. 

There was the time when he had crawled through her window, right before a family event, pushed her against the wall and kissed her until her knees gave out. He left with a quick peck on the lips and a mischievous grin. Marinette was left to greet her family; shaky, a flush blooming in her cheeks and creeping its way down her neck, lips were kissed bruised and her eyes where dark with frustration and distraction. She had to deal with her family asking if she was sick, her papa's raised eyebrows and her mother's amused smile. 

There was the time when it was raining, and they curled up with their kwami's to rewatch The Aristocats. 

All of these may have seemed insignificant, but to Marinette they were only a handful of her most treasured memories that she stored within her heart.   
All of these beautiful moments, small and large, piled up to fill the gaping hole that had been throbbing in her heart just months before. It's funny how much things can change. 

That's not to say that all of her insecurities and doubts were gone. It's not to be said that all of her frustrations and negative emotions, just disappeared. There wasn't only good memories. Her life wasn't perfect in the slightest.   
She sometimes, still, felt like she wasn't good enough or that she was less compared to certain aspect of herself. But that's just it, it was her. All of it was her; Marinette, Ladybug or whoever it was in-between. Adrien had taught her that. He had taught her that all of the things she was insecure about was just aspects of herself, and no aspect was less than another. But habits are easier to retain than lessons. It still took practice, every day, to reteach herself; to replace self-hatred with self-love. It was a battle every single day, but now she had a faithful solider by her side; guiding her, loving her. Actually, she always did, but before she had refused to accept his help. That was another thing she was working on. And she still got frustrated with her responsibilities, but now there was someone to help her get through it. She still felt depressed, and angry and jealous. But now she had someone, who listened, who offered advice, who still loved her no matter what mood she was in. And it was so important. He was important. She wasn't perfect and neither was he, but he still loved her. He struggled through his own battles and still loved her. They fought and disagreed, but that didn't change anything. Adrien still loved her, and she still loved him. Simple. End of story. Adrien had changed her, definitely for the better. 

She didn't even startle as gloved hands wrapped themselves around her waist, interrupting her from her reminiscing. 

"Hello, Chat." Marinette kept her eyes closed, her smile widening slightly. 

"My Lady." He muttered as he pulled her off the edge, effectively pulling her closer, her spandex-covered body pressed against his. Marinette couldn't help but try and snuggle closer, sighing softly in happiness at the warmth he provided. 

She finally opened her eyes, as she looked up at him. 

Once again, for what seemed like the billionth time, her blue eyes met green. And it was just as shocking and electrifying as the first. Green threaded with dark green, yellow, and if you stared long enough, a touch of blue. Green laced with love and happiness and concern. So very, very green. And for the billionth time, she hoped that she would always be able to call this green hers. 

"What are you doing, Chaton?" She asked, a soft smile gracing her lips. 

"I don't like you near edges anymore." He muttered pressing into her hair. 

"Adrien, I'm not going to jump. I'm done jumping." She said softly, trying to reassure him by stroking the hands that were still attached to her waist. 

"I know. I'm not worried about that, now my concern is that you're going grow wings and fly away and leave me." 

Marinette laughed out loud as she felt him pout against her hair. 

"You know I would never leave you." She twisted in his arms to face him. Pressing her lips on his before he could argue. Her hands came up to his cheeks, drawing him closer. His hands remained at her waist, but wrapped around tighter. She felt his claws starting to dig into her back and groaned at the fire the sensation lit in her core. Adrien's mouth moved against hers as if he was trying to memorize the exact shape of her lips. She brought his face closer, deepening the kiss. She let her tongue sweep across his bottom lip, smiling against his mouth, when she heard the hiss of his sharp intake of breath. Her next movements were practiced and anticipated as her tongue darted into his mouth. Mapping out the already explored territory, yet feeling the rush of something new, all the same. Her body was already tingling, but it was nothing compared to the thrill she felt run up her spine before pulsing through the rest of her body, when his clawed fingers began to stoke circles on the small of her back. 

She groaned again and Adrien used her moment of weakness to take control of the kiss. His hand continued to stroke shapes into her cloaked skin and the other came up to rest on the back of her head. He wove his fingers into her hair, productively mussing it. He curled his fingers around the small strands that came loose, before kneading his fingers against her scalp, protracting another breathless moan from Marinette. 

Marinette made a sound of protest when he pulled away, a grin dripping off his appealing features. 

"What? The bug can dish it out, but can't handle it when she's the one being kissed?" He teased as he danced away from her outstretched hand. 

"You can't kiss me like that, and then just run away!" She shouted helplessly, as she watched his retreating back. 

"Cat-ch me, if you can!" He threw back over his shoulder, the wind carrying it back to her. 

Marinette growled, "You and your stupid puns," as she launched herself toward the direction he went. 

As the two superheros leapt and bounded over Paris, Marinette couldn't help but let a foolish smile cover her face. Adrien grinned when he saw it, and laughed when her heard her whoop from joy. Allowing her to get close, before bounding out of her reach again. And so, their game of chase pursued until the reached a building that was as familiar to them, as their own homes were; the Arc De Triomphe. 

Marinette landed on the roof of the, Arc De Triomphe, a second after he did and threw her arms around him. 

"Caught you." She whispered, breathless, as she nuzzled into the space between his shoulder blades. 

"Mmm, I let you." He muttered, also quiet, as he stroked her entwined fingers, resting against his stomach. 

They stayed that way, silent, warm and appreciating one another before separating to sit side by side. Marinette let her head rest against his shoulder and Adrien wrapped a hand around her waist.   
Marinette let her thoughts turn back to the past as she settled into the warm and safe environment that was her boyfriend. 

She really was lucky to meet this dorky guy in a spandex cat suit. And she was more than lucky to fall in love with him. She was lucky that he jumped after her. She was lucky that he chose to crawl through her window, time and time again. She was lucky that he chose to love her, all of her. She was lucky that he chose to come back that night. 

She lifted her hand, twisting it this way and that, examining it. 

Her skin was no longer marred by bruises (unless you counted hickey's, which she didn't), her skin was no longer stained by never-ending cuts and gashes, her ribs no longer seared with pain at each breath, her body was no longer broken and maimed. And her heart was no longer coming apart at the seams. 

She smiled as she curled her hand back to rest by her heart, yup, she was definitely lucky. And never was she more thankful for Ladybug's power. 

"What are you doing?" Adrien asked as he tucked his fingers under her chin, bring her face up to his. 

"Nothing." She smiled as she felt his lips press against hers. She would never tell Adrien, of course, but sometimes she was glad that she jumped. Rest assured, she never wanted to go through that pain ever again, but by jumping...he came tumbling after her. She wouldn't jump again, she didn't need to. She still had things to escape and she still had things to prove and she still had people to save, but now she found other ways to do it, more positive ways. More specifically, she found him. As her hands threaded through his blonde locks, she could never imagine life without him and she never wanted to. 

"I love you," she pulled back a bit, pressing the words against his mouth. Adrien pulled away completely, his forehead resting on hers. She shivered as his gaze met hers. 

"I love you, too. " He whispered before sealing his mouth on hers once again. Marinette sighed in contentment, before pulling back again, just barely. 

"You know what, Adrien?" 

Feeling the ghost of his lips on hers as he answered, "What, my love?" 

Her hands came up to hold him still, before whispering her answer;

"There was no falling in love with you. There was no unconscious decision. No, I chose to. And I am so glad I did." 

"Hmm," Adrien hummed in response, his hand coming up to stroke her cheek, waiting for her to finish her thought. 

Marinette continued, before kissing him once more. 

 

"There was no falling in love with you. I jumped." 

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Okay, this is officially the end. I can never express how thankful I am that anyone takes the time to read it. I know! I'm sad too! You guys have been so amazing and wonderful and I love every one of you. My writing have improved so much since I've written this, and I'm so proud of Jump. I hope it brings you guy's as much happiness as it brought me. 
> 
> It's true that this is the end of Jump, but look out for me in the future! I plan on writing more! I promise!
> 
> Have a good whatever!
> 
> Love you forever, 
> 
> Cutesylittledemon


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